


Return to Harmony

by DeanGirl2Y5



Series: Supernatural AU [2]
Category: My Bloody Valentine (2009), Supernatural
Genre: Blood Drinking, Canonical Character Death, Demon Blood Addiction, Demon Dean, Demon Dean Winchester, Demon OFC, Episode: s10e03 Soul Survivor, Explicit Language, F/M, My Bloody Valentine (2009) spoilers, POV Dean Winchester, POV Sam Winchester, Sam Winchester on Demon Blood, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Season/Series 09 Spoilers, Season/Series 10 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-02-21 02:53:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 36,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2452016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeanGirl2Y5/pseuds/DeanGirl2Y5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Supernatural/My Bloody Valentine crossover.</i> With only five months left before Aline and Dean go to Hell, Tom Hanniger asks his cousin Aline to come with him back to Harmony to sell the mine.</p><p>Since Tom and Dean are both played by Jensen, Tom's hair is gonna be a bit lighter than Dean's, and his eyes are going to be a darker green. Just to differentiate the two of them instead of having them be twins. Also, there will be an epilogue that takes place during "Soul Survivor."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: The Nightmare Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Tom and Aline, along with Tom's girlfriend Sarah, go to Hanniger Mines for the party.

**Harmony, West Virginia**  
 **February 14, 1999**  
"You sure you wanna go?" Aline Peverell called out as she fixed her black short-sleeved Batman t-shirt. "I could pick up your dad, and you and Sarah can go on a date or something."

She was living with her Uncle Eli Hanniger and cousin Tom. Ever since the fire that killed her mom (Eli's sister), Aline, ever since she turned thirteen, split time between Harmony and her hometown of St. Louis.

It was no secret to anyone that she wanted to live with the old man and Tom permanently. Tom was the only one who understood why that was. He was also the only one that knew about her nightmares about Hell. At first, he had been shocked that her father had done such a thing. Later, he took it upon himself to take care of Aline like she was his younger sister even though they were the same age.

"It's fine," Tom replied. "You wanna go. Sarah wants to go. I'll be fine."

Aline rolled her eyes while she walked over to Tom's truck after locking the door and climbed in the passenger seat. "We don't have to if you don't want to. Hell, you're the one that's driving, Tommy. Not me. Not Sarah. I'll live with staying as far away from the mine as possible and eating the leftover pizza in the fridge."

The town's mine belonged to Uncle Eli. There had been an accident there the year before, which led to a cave-in at tunnel number 5. The explosion that caused the cave-in had been ruled an accident after the police took Tom in for questioning, being the last person out that night. He revealed to the police that he forgot to bleed the lines. Some people blamed him for the fact that Harry Warden, the mine boss of the night, killed the miners that were trapped with him. Burke had been quoted as saying, "Warden killed those men to conserve his own goddamn air."

Now, Warden was in a coma, and everyone was saying there was no chance of him coming out of it.

Tom blamed himself for what happened, and he refused to go anywhere near that tunnel ever since.

But there was gonna be a party there that night, and both Sarah and Aline wanted to go. Plus, Aline's and Sarah's friend Irene convinced Tom to come.

Tom looked at her after buckling his seat belt, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her dead in the eye. "I'll be fine. Trust me."

She skeptically looked at him for a few minutes before nodding and buckling her seat belt. He started the car and began the drive to his girlfriend's house.

The whole drive was filled with teasing between both cousins and the sound of Aline's latest tape filled with songs from different musicals, the both of them singing along to it. Uncle Eli had taken the both of them to see Jekyll & Hyde when it was in the area a few years back. Which was what they were listening to. "Facade" was one of the songs that calmed her down after one of her nightmares.

The moment Tom pulled into the Mercers' driveway and parked his truck, Aline unbuckled and scooched to the middle seat while Tom exited and walked up to the front door. Minutes later, Tom and Sarah both entered the truck, Sarah holding a six-pack of cherry Pepsi and Tom holding a six-pack of beer. Aline grinned.

"Sarah Mercer, you are my bestest best friend on the planet," she stated, taking the six-pack from her.

Sarah bowed as best as she could in the truck. "I do my best."

"That's not yours, actually," Tom teased, earning a playful punch from his cousin.

"Son of a pickle," Aline said.

"Prince William's buffalo."

Sarah rolled her eyes at their usual antics. The drive to the bar was pretty much the same as the drive to Sarah's house, except with Sarah either ganging up on either Tom or Aline much to the playful annoyance of the other. Tom and Aline sometimes ganged up on Sarah.

The two cousins kept Aline's nightmares between them, only to be talked about when they both knew for sure they were alone or Uncle Eli was asleep. Tom was always the one who woke up the moment he heard Aline thrashing around in her bed, sobbing and whimpering, and sang "Facade" until he was sure she fell asleep again.

Tom pulled into the bar's parking lot, and the trio piled out of the truck, Sarah tightening her ponytail as the three entered the bar. Aline spotted her uncle and his partner, Ben Foley, sitting at the counter talking.

"I was supposed to protect those men," she heard Uncle Eli say bitterly, "and they died because of my son. That's on me."

Ben looked over at Tom, Sarah, and Aline as the three of them walked over to Uncle Eli. Aline clenched her fists at her side.

"Dad," Tom began hesitantly, "we're here to take you home."

Uncle Eli looked away from him. "Can't you see I'm drinking?"

"Yeah, we can see that," Aline grounded before Tom or Sarah could say anything. The man knew her opinion on alcohol of any kind. He had been the second person she confided in about what happened with her asshole of an adopted father. "Why do you gotta do this to yourself?"

"To forget."

Aline clenched her jaw as Tom replied, "Yeah, well, it wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, it was." Eli finally turned in his seat to face the three of them, standing up as well. "And those men died because your father and your uncle _trusted_ the wrong man."

Aline glared dangerously at her uncle, her clenched fist and every object hanging on the wall and glass on the counter shook violently while her eyes flashed black for just a second. She felt Tom's hand grab her arm behind Sarah's back, clenching it firmly as if he knew what she wanted to do to Uncle Eli.

"Eli," she barely heard Ben call. She didn't even notice him until he was standing right behind her uncle, his hand on his shoulder forcing him to sit back down on the stool. "We all make mistakes. Some more than others."

The statement infuriated her. It seemed like he was implying the murders were all Tom's fault, just like every single person in Harmony!

Sarah walked toward Uncle Eli after glancing at Tom, putting her own hand on his shoulder. "Mr. Hanniger, I think you should come with us," she stated.

Eli turned his head away, letting Ben answer for him.

"Sarah, Tommy, Ally," Ben said.

The three of them took that as a cue and walked out of the bar, but not before Aline punched the wall next to the door out of anger.

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

The party was in full swing by the time Tom parked his truck at the top of the hill overlooking Tunnel Number 5. Sarah was successful in her attempt to brighten the cousins' moods after their conversation with Uncle Eli and Ben, and the two cousins had gone back to teasing each other about random things.

At least until they climbed out of the truck on the top of that hill.

Aline noticed Tom's face paled slightly at the sight of the mine itself. She looked over at him with a look, which he returned with a forced smile. She knew he wasn't too happy about coming back to this hellhole, but she also knew he wouldn't complain about it if she and Sarah wanted to be there. Nothing Aline said to him would change his mind.

The six pack of cherry Pepsi was in Aline's hand, and Sarah's arm was wrapped around Tom's. The trio walked down to where Axel Palmer had parked his car. Loads of people knew Axel harbored feelings for Sarah, even though he already was dating Irene. Obviously, Sarah chose Tom, and Axel got together with Irene, but Aline noticed the longing glances he sent Sarah's way behind Tom's back. She had cornered him about it a few times, telling him Sarah made her choice and for him to live with it.

Because of that, their friendship sort of deteriorated. Sarah became the mediator between the two of them. Aline and Axel, along with Tom (after Aline confided in him what Axel was doing), were the only ones who knew about the real reason it happened.

"Hey guys," Sarah greeted as the three of them approached Irene and Axel. "Thanks for waiting." She let go of Tom's arm and went to give Irene a hug.

Aline noticed Axel smiling at Sarah, or, at least, Sarah's body, and she sent a glare his way that disappeared before Irene and Sarah could even notice it was there.

"Yeah, Axel was about to give up on you guys," Irene said as she hugged Sarah and then Aline. "But I knew you would come."

"Axel. Hey," Sarah said, just being friendly.

"Hey Sarah," Axel replied, sounding more like an embarrassed middle student than someone who had just graduated high school.

Sarah backed up against Tom, who instantly wrapped his arms around her waist. Aline grinned at her cousin's actions. Tom and Sarah had been friends since elementary school, but Aline remembered hearing Tom always talk about his feelings for Sarah when he turned fifteen. It had taken Sarah getting ditched by her date at junior prom for Tom to spill his feelings for her for them to get together. Now, a year later, they were still going strong, and they'd been voted 'Class Couple' in the yearbook by the entire class.

"Okay, so before we go in...snapshots!" Irene called out with a grin identical to Aline's. The blond slid off of the truck and grabbed her camera.

Aline watched as Tom smiled down at Sarah and had to force herself to not clap happily. Tom was always the happiest when Sarah was in the same room or general vicinity of Tom, and his eyes shined the brightest when his hand was in hers even when he was feeling guilty about the cavein.

"No," Sarah said. "I don't think so."

"Come on." She looked over at Aline.

Aline grinned. "Hell, you know I'm in," she responded.

"Let's do this," Tom said. Irene smiled as Aline skipped over to stand next to Irene.

"Because you two look so perfect together," Irene stated as she held her camera up.

Sarah wrapped her arms around Tom's neck, and Tom wrapped his around her waist and kissed the top of her head while Irene took the picture. Sarah blushed as both Irene and Aline cheered. After handing the six pack of soda to Irene, Aline ran back over and jumped up on Tom's back, and he grunted as she wrapped her arms around her neck.

"Goofy picture time!" she called with a big grin.

"Easy there, Batgirl. You aren't as light as you used to be," Tom teased. 'Batgirl' was another of Tom's nicknames for Aline, considering her love for both Batman and Batgirl. Her other nicknames for Tom included different variations of 'Superman.'

She teasingly huffed. "I'm pleasantly plump, thank you very much, Supes."

"I don't think so."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"I ain't calling you a truther!"

Both Sarah and Irene laughed. Conversations like this between the two cousins were normal, and it was a bit of a relief to tease each other after the things the two of them had been through. Aline climbed off Tom's back before he picked her back up bridal style, grinning like a madman. She tilted his hat to the side and looked over at Sarah.

Her cousin's girlfriend was posing like a model, but with a funny face. Aline stuck her hand behind Sarah's head as bunny ears, did the same to Tom, and did blue-steel. Irene couldn't stop laughing as she took the picture. Aline, Tom, and Sarah laughed while Tom set Aline down onto the ground.

Once they calmed down, Sarah asked Axel and Irene, "So...you guys want one?"

Irene looked like she was about to say yes when Axel grabbed the beer off the truck and spoke first.

"No we're good," he grumbled. "Come on. Let's go." He started walking towards the mine.

"All righty then," Irene said.

The five of them walked toward the entrance of the cave, Aline walking next to Tom and Sarah. Aline watched as Tom began to slow his strides as they arrived at the entrance, and she knew he was afraid. She shared a glance with Sarah, and they both stopped him before they could go any farther.

"Hey," Sarah said, and Tom turned to look at her. "We don't have to go in there if you don't want to, Tom."

"My suggestion from earlier still stands," Aline pointed out.

Tom smiled at both girls after looking into the cave. "It's fine," he said gently. "Everybody's here, having a good time. We should have a good time too, right? And you both wanted to be here."

"Do you want to be here?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah. Yes. I want to be anywhere you are."

Sarah wrapped her arms around his neck while Aline backed away a bit. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too." He placed a kiss on Sarah's lips before handing her the flashlight that he had grabbed. "I left the beer in the car. Here. Take this. I'll go grab it and then catch up with you two."

"Want me to go?"

"No. Go ahead, have fun. You too, Ally."

Aline shook her head. "I'll come with you," she stated. "You go ahead, Sarah. If Palmer starts making passes at you, kick him in the nads."

Sarah smiled at the cousins and nodded before they headed back toward the car and Sarah headed into the mine.

"I don't need a chaperone, you know," Tom pointed out when they got close to his truck.

"I know. I didn't think you'd want to head in there on your own when you actually do." There was a comfortable silence between the two of them for a few minutes except for Aline whistling "Facade." Tom joined in while he went to grab the beer.

That was when they both heard a scream that sounded like Sarah's coming from inside the mine. Neither of them glanced at each other as they ran back toward the cave, Tom dropping the six pack on the ground. Once inside, she saw Sarah, Irene, and Axel running toward them. Sarah had a bloody handprint on her white shirt.

"Sarah!" Tom and Aline yelled at the same time as Tom grabbed Sarah and held her.

"They're dead!" Sarah cried out as she rested her head against Tom's shoulder. "They're all dead!"

Aline joined Tom in hugging Sarah before glancing at each other and then looking back to where they had come from. Aline didn't want to lose her best friend here, and she wasn't going to. Not now, not ever. Tom pushed Sarah to follow Axel, who was heading out of the mine. Both Tom and Aline took off running as Harry Warden crept closer.

"Faster Sarah!" she heard Axel yell from outside. "Faster!"

A few seconds later, they were outside and Axel was trying to get Sarah into his truck.

"Nononono, we can't leave Tom and Aline!" Sarah yelled out, trying to climb out.

Tom attempted to push Aline towards safety when Harry caught the both of them with the axe and threw them back.

"NO! TOM! ALLY! PLEASE COME ON!" she heard Sarah scream, but she couldn't get up. She was in shock. She moved closer to Tom, and they both watched helplessly as Harry threw an axe at Axel's truck, embedding it in the glass.

It was just about an inch from Sarah's eyes.

She screamed.

Tom and Aline got themselves up to their feet as they heard Sarah's screams. Aline's jaw and fists clenched in anger, but she watched with sad eyes as Axel pulled the truck away, taking her best friends with him. Tom then quickly grabbed Aline's hand, and the two of them took off running back into the mine.

She thought they were safe...until Harry swung at them.

Both cousins were good at dodging the axe as Harry swung it. She jumped to avoid it, but she ended up falling against a pile of wood, Tom falling within arm's reach.

 _This is it,_ she thought to herself as Harry neared the both of them. _This is how it all ends._ She glanced at Tom, seeing he thought the same. She scooted closer to him, preferring to lie close to her cousin.

Before Harry could hurt either of them, someone fired at him, splattering the miner's blood all over Aline's and Tom's faces. Harry fell to his knees in front of them, staring right at the cousins like he was memorizing their faces. Neither Tom or Aline looked away, both of their eyes wide with fear.

"Stay down, Harry," she heard Sheriff Burke growl at Harry.

The miner didn't listen. He pushed himself to his feet again and stood in front of the cousins.

"STAY DOWN, HARRY!" he called to him again.

Aline heard more shots being fired at the wounded Harry Warden until he vanished. Footsteps chased after Harry while the sheriff knelt down in Aline's and Tom's line of sight.

"Tom? Aline? You all right?"

Neither of them answered. Aline only scooted closer to Tom and wrapped her arms around his body, Tom doing the same. She didn't want to ever let go of Tom, knowing they had stared Hell in the face and survived.


	2. Chapter One: Back Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aline, along with Sam and Dean, go back to Harmony for Eli's funeral.

******Six minutes away from Harmony**  
**Ten years later**  
**Five months remaining**  
Aline woke up screaming.

“Hey, it's all right. Nothing's gonna hurt you,” a familiar voice soothed.

She calmed down as she opened her eyes, looking at a familiar pair of candy apple green eyes.

She wasn't in Hell yet (keyword: yet), but, just to make sure of what else she had seen, she muttered, _“Christo.”_

He didn't even flinch, and his eyes didn't flash black. “I was one again, wasn't I?”

Aline nodded. “There was...something different this time,” she stated, her eyes darting around to look at where she was. “Why aren't you driving?”

Before he could even answer, another voice answered with, “Dean and I heard you muttering something and moving around while you were asleep. It looked like you were scared, so Dean pulled over, moved to the backseat, and put your head in his lap.”

The fact that she was muttering in her sleep made her freeze. That wasn't unusual for her, but she definitely didn't want the brothers to know about this particular dream. “What was I saying?”

“Like I said, neither of us could hear what you were saying.”

Her shoulders sagged in relief. “So, you decided to take over, Sammy?”

“Pretty much.”

She didn't look at Dean as she continued glancing around, afraid of seeing that gas mask again. “Thanks Dean. You didn't have to do that, you know.” Her heart was pounding and she felt tense as she looked around.

Was it because of the overpowering fear of seeing Harry's face again?

Was it from Dean's calming touch?

Was it from the fear of knowing she only had five months left until her second visit to Hell?

She didn't know. The dream she just had was different from any other from the past few years or even the past eight months.

**This time, she dreamed about that night ten years ago, except Dean was there with her and Tom. She guessed Sam was in a different part of the mine. They were facing both hellhounds and Harry himself. She'd watched helplessly as Harry killed Tom, but Dean had killed Harry before he could kill her. The miner had only managed to stab her in the arm.**

**_**“**_** _ **Don't you dare be dead, Tommy. Don't you**_ **dare,” she remembered begging, her voice cracking.**

**Then, both she and Dean were attacked by the hellhounds. The last thing she remembered of that part of her nightmare was Sam calling out their names and running toward them as her world went black. She wasn't sure how much time passed before she was looking at Dean's back. A woman that looked to be in her mid-thirties was tied to a post. Aline swore she looked familiar.**

**The three of them were holed up in a long-since abandoned barn. Dean turned to face Aline, a sadistic smirk on his face that made a good kind of shiver run up and down her back.**

_**“Y** **ou wanna have a little fun, Batgirl?”**_ **he questioned, holding the bloodied knife out for her.**

 **She remembered feeling her lips curl into a wide grin as she answered,** _**“**_ _ **Of course. You know I'm game.”** _

**She remembered hearing the woman beg and plead for her life. She put the tip of the knife underneath the woman's neck and forced her to look her in the eyes. The woman's eyes widened in recognition.**

_**“**_ _ **A**_ _ **line, please,”** _ **she begged. _“_** _ **We're friends, remember? I used to date your cousin, Tom.”** _

**The woman was Sarah Mercer. That was one thing that would've made her wake up screaming.**

**The more sadistic part of Aline's brain (the demon half) cursed herself for not wearing a gas mask to scare the crap outta her.**

**Aline didn't respond, instead moving to put another cut on her already pretty cut up body before hearing someone cock a gun.**

_**“** **Drop the blade,”**_ **a familiar male voice ordered, making her grin widen.**

 _ **“** **Sammy, I get all tingly when you take control like that,”**_ **she stated as she turned around. Right behind Sam was a full-body mirror. Dean was hidden right behind the mirror. He grinned at her and let his eyes flash black.**

**That alone would've made her wake up screaming like she did, but that wasn't all.**

**She smirked at him and felt her own eyes switch to black as well.**

“I wanted to. You've been doing the same for me,” Dean told her. “What are you looking for?”

She felt most of the tension leave her body. “Nothing. And before you say anything Sam, I don't wanna talk about it.” She sat up and clapped her hands. “Anyway, are we there yet?”

“It's the next exit. There's nothing supernatural about how this Eli guy died. Just natural causes,” Sam replied. “His death isn't our type of thing.”

Aline sighed. “He was my uncle, one of my only relatives. I used to split my time between Harmony and St. Louis.”

“Why didn't you just stay with him after we saved you? Not that we don't regret you coming along with us.”

She decided to blatantly ignore the question. “I wanted to actually live there full-time with him and his son Tom. Tom was the only one I told everything to. He was the first person I called whenever I had a bad day at school. He was like the brother I never had.”

“What happened to him?” Dean asked.

“Nothing happened to him. He's still alive. I call or text him every time I get the chance. I think of him every single time you two have an argument.”

“Why did you stop wanting to live there?” Sam this time.

She sighed, running her fingers over her hair. She didn't want to talk about what happened at the mine. You'd think after having nightmares about it for years she'd be able to talk to someone about it, but she couldn't without panicking. She settled with, “Something frightening happened one night ten years ago. Neither of us talk about it. But Tom helped me pack my things, and he and Uncle Eli drove me to the airport and sent me back to St. Louis. Tom actually hugged me before I got on the plane. That was the last time I saw either of them.”

Both brothers were silent for a few moments as they processed the information. That silence allowed her to remember things she didn't want to.

“ _Those men died because your father and your uncle_ trusted _the wrong man.”_

“ _Nononono, we can't leave Tom and Aline!”_

“ _We all make mistakes. Some more than others.”_

She snarled and punched the back of the passenger seat, making both Sam and Dean jump a few inches above their seats.

“Geez, what did Baby ever do to you, Ally?” Dean questioned, trying to lighten the tension.

She sighed and ran her fingers over her hair before laying back down on Dean's lap. “Sorry about that. I was just remembering stuff that I haven't thought about since the Rawhead hunt. I just wanna forget this stuff, ya know? Leave it behind and forget it happened. I have good memories of Harmony, but what Tom and I went through overpowers the good ones.” That was when she pulled that picture out of her pocket and looked at it, smiling softly at the memory.

_Aline ran back over and jumped up on Tom's back, and he grunted as she wrapped her arms around her neck._

“ _Goofy picture time!” she called with a big grin._

“ _Easy there, Batgirl. You aren't as light as you used to be,” Tom teased._

_She teasingly huffed. “I'm pleasantly plump, thank you very much, Supes.”_

“ _I don't think so.”_

“ _Are you calling me a liar?”_

“ _I ain't calling you a truther!”_

_Both Sarah and Irene laughed. Aline climbed off Tom's back before he picked her back up bridal style, grinning like a madman. She tilted his hat to the side and looked over at Sarah._

_Her cousin's girlfriend was posing like a model, but with a funny face. Aline stuck her hand behind Sarah's head as bunny ears, did the same to Tom, and did blue-steel. Irene couldn't stop laughing as she took the picture. Aline, Tom, and Sarah laughed while Tom set Aline down onto the ground._

Hearing Dean chuckle dragged her out of the memory.

“You looked like a dork.”

“I'll take that as a compliment, Winchester.”

He pointed at Tom. “Is that him?”

She nodded and pointed at Sarah. “That's Sarah Mercer, his ex-girlfriend.”

He gently took the picture from her hand and stared at it. “Ex?”

She nodded again. “Tom left Harmony the same night I did. Neither of us really talk about what happened that night.”

“You should talk to each other about it. Something bad could happen from holding all this in,” Sam pointed out.

“It's better that we don't because it makes me think of what could have happened back then. Yeah, I had nightmares about it until the Rawhead hunt, but I didn't, and still don't, want to think about what could've happened while I'm awake. Hell, that's the dream I just had, but it was different.”

“How?”

“The both of you were there, but you were someplace else. We were running from the hellhounds and...” She shook her head, not even wanting to say _his_ name. Saying _his_ name would bring the memories back and the sound of him breathing echoing in her ears. She shut her eyes and clenched her fists.

“What else was chasing us?”

Of course Sam would prod, but she just ignored the question and continued, “You didn't come until after Tom, Dean, and I were dead. Flash forward I don't know how long, Dean and I were torturing someone. Specifically Sarah. I didn't know why. She was trying to get me to stop, but I didn't listen. That was when you showed up, Sam.” She opened her eyes and looked up at Dean, seeing the exact emotion she was feeling right now in his eyes.

_Fear._

That was how she knew he knew _exactly_ what the two of them were in her nightmare. It was something neither of them talked about but dreaded. There was a part of her that hoped that they would still want to be together if that ever happened. He pulled her up and hugged her tightly. She hugged him back just as tight. It was something they both needed, considering how much time they had left.

That was when Sam pulled into the church parking lot.

“We're here.”

Aline and Dean broke their embrace, and she looked out the window, seeing cars she recognized. It looked like the whole Harmony police department was there. She even saw Ben's car, making her chuckle a little. Some things never change no matter how long you've been away.

Dean whistled. “Looks like the whole town's here,” he stated.

She didn't bother answering him and climbed out of the car, stuffing her hands in her pockets. Could she really go in that church and see people she hasn't seen in years? Pretend she was a normal girl with a normal job instead of hunting monsters and forget that she was going back to Hell in five months? She found herself standing in front of the doors, hearing voices chatting about normal things.

There would be pity if she walked through those doors, of that she was sure. Along with: _“Where have you been the last ten years?”, “Why didn't you stay and help pick up the pieces?”,_ and _“Where's your cousin?”_

Her hand was on the door handle, but she hesitated the moment she heard Sarah's laughter. Would she even want to see her since she'd hightailed it out of town that night ten years ago? There was a slight possibility Sarah thought both Aline and Tom died that night. Hell, she might even be married to someone else and have a kid. Aline removed her hand from the door handle and walked back to the Impala. Fortunately, both brothers followed without questioning it.

Sarah didn't need her coming into her life and screwing things up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: The original title of the first chapter was "Left for Dead." I based the title of every odd chapter on each of the songs from the My Bloody Valentine OST.
> 
> Next time: Sam and Dean meet Tom, and the four of them go to see the mine.


	3. Chapter Two: Prodigal Children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aline, along with Tom and the Winchesters, go back to Harmony.
> 
> Their first stop: Hanniger Mines.
> 
> Aline tells Tom about her deal. Tom doesn't take it too well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song isn't mine. It belongs to the writers of the Jekyll & Hyde musical.

**Richmond, VA**

**Two weeks later**

Sam, Dean, and Aline were holed up in some motel Aline couldn't remember the name of for the life of her. Sam was still looking for a way to get Dean and her out of their deals without dying himself. Other than the constant search for a way out, Aline and the Winchesters were having a vacation. Aline and Dean were sitting on the couch watching TV, Aline snuggled into Dean's side with his arm draped over her shoulder.

That was when the news came on.

“Harmony, this small-town slice of Norman Rockwell, is the murder capital of America,” the woman said.

Aline tensed and was about to change the channel, but Dean put his hand on hers. Even Sam looked up from his laptop. She knew _exactly_ what the woman was going to talk about.

“The Valentine's Day celebration approaches, and it's been nearly ten years since this God-fearing community was shaken to its core when local miner Harry Warden went on a killing spree, taking the lives of twenty-two men, women, and children before being buried alive in the very mine he once worked.”

She tried her hardest not to react, but she tensed even more, her heart stopping in her chest. Harry was dead? Really dead?  _Please let him be dead,_ she pleaded.  _Please let me have one less nightmare to worry about._

“But, after a decade, have the residents of Harmony been able to recover from the trauma? I'm here with County Sheriff Axel Palmer, who has this to say.” The woman turned around to speak with Axel, Aline's jaw dropping at the sight of him.

She quickly recovered. The fact that he was handsome now didn't change the fact that she didn't like him. “Way to go, Palmer,” she said sarcastically.

“What happened was a long time ago,” Axel answered. “We're all just trying to move on.”

“Sheriff, do you ever worry that these horrific events might repeat themselves?” the journalist asked, making Axel snort.

“Well, I know you in the media would just love that to happen.” He continued, getting angry. “Why don't you people stop coming back here every year, hoping for some kind of—some kind of fucking horror show, to mark the stupidest fucking holiday a greeting card company ever invented?”

Aline rolled her eyes and shut off the TV. Before Sam or Dean could ask her any questions, there was a knock on the door.

The three hunters grabbed their guns, Sam and Dean positioning themselves on either side of the door while Aline looked through the peep hole. She relaxed and grinned, putting her gun away as she opened the door.

It was Tom.

“You could've called first, ya know, Supes. Nearly gave me a heart attack,” she teased, making Tom roll his eyes in amusement.

“Hi to you too, Batgirl. So, where's those boys I keep hearing about?” he asked.

Sam and Dean came out of their hiding places.

“Tom Hanniger, right?” Sam stated, holding out his hand.

“Yep. And you're Sam Winchester.” He shook Sam's hand before pointing at Dean. “And you're Dean. Glad to meet Batgirl's sidekicks.”

“Sammy's actually more my sidekick. Dean's the Batman to my Batgirl,” she corrected. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“You know how Dad chose me to be majority shareholder, right?”

She nodded, stiffening slightly. “You want to go back, don't you?”

“I know you don't want to. I don't either, but I have to in order to sell the place. Hell, I don't even want to go in again.”

“Why don't you just sign it off to Ben? Make him the shareholder instead of you? That way we won't have to even see it again.”

Tom shook his head. “You know I can't do that. Maybe, if we see it one more time, they'll stop. _He'll_ stop. Besides, that reporter said he's dead.”

She shook her head, walked toward the kitchen area of the room, and pulled out a bottle of soda, drinking it before she made her decision. “Alright. We've got nothing else going on, right?” She looked over at Sam and Dean.

“We do have that thing, though,” Sam pointed out, talking about his researching.

“But you could do the thing while we're in Harmony.” She wanted to see Harmony one more time before she went to Hell. The look in Dean's eyes let her know he understood.

There was a tense silence between Sam and Aline as they glared at each other. You could practically reach out and touch it.

There hadn't been a hunt in the past few weeks, which, combined with the fact that Sam insisted on spending every waking moment with Dean and Aline (which meant no splitting up to do different things), made Aline snappier and her demon side come out to push Sam's buttons and hurt him emotionally (neither Sam or Dean knew it, though. If it was up to her, neither of them would ever find out, but she knew Dean was going to see it in five months). She never let her eyes change at all when that happened. That caused small fights to break out between the two of them, which Dean successfully put a stop to each time.

There was no doubt another of those fights was about to happen. Aline's jaw clenched, and a vicious comment was on her lips, but Dean stopped it from coming out by splaying his hand on her chest, calming her down.

“I don't know about Sammy,” he threw in, “but I wanna see more of the place our little Aline spent her time in.” His tone was light, teasing and trying to ease the tension between Aline and his brother. “We only got to see a tiny bit of it a couple weeks ago.”

That caused Tom to cock an eyebrow. “Why were you guys in Harmony?” he questioned.

Aline looked at Tom and responded, “For Uncle Eli's funeral. I couldn't go in, though. I heard Sarah laughing, and I didn't want to ruin her life by letting her see me. As nice as it would've been to see her again, I just couldn't make myself go in.” She stopped herself from saying “one more time,” not wanting Tom to know that she was going to Hell again.

The look in her cousin's eyes let her know he heard that almost slip. “I'm surprised Dad didn't try to find you.”

“I'm pretty sure he could've found me if he wanted to. You know that as well as I do.”

“True. Why am I getting there's something going on that you're not telling me?”

She tensed and let out a short laugh. “There's nothing going on, Supes. I already told you everything that's happened.”

“Tell me again then.”

She sighed. “I got kidnapped by a shapeshifter pretending to be Dean, I started hunting monsters with these two, met their dad three times, found and killed the demon that killed Mom, got into a car accident, hunted down monsters, opened the gates of Hell. That's pretty much it.”

“There's something else you're not telling me. Just tell me.”

She avoided looking him in the eye, instead choosing to look at the floor. “You're gonna be mad at me. I don't need anyone else to be mad at me. Especially you.”

Tom put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, reminding her of when he comforted her after her Hell nightmares. “Please. I won't be mad at you. I promise.”

She looked over at Dean, unsure of whether she should tell him or not. Dean nodded his consent.

She then looked at Tom as she picked up her duffle. “I'll tell you on the way there.”

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

There was a somewhat comfortable silence between Aline and Tom as he drove the stretch of highway that lead to Harmony. The Impala was right behind them. She had received multiple texts from both brothers (Sam moreso than Dean) about telling Tom about her's and Dean's deals. They were a few minutes away from the mine when she decided to bring it up, instead of the brothers hearing his response themselves.

“Sam died seven months ago, Tom. Stabbed through his spine,” she said. She knew she didn't have to spill the details about what happened next, knowing Tom would connect the dots himself.

Tom's jaw clenched in anger. “You're going back, aren't you,” he said. It wasn't a question, and they both knew it.

She nodded. “Five months from now. Dean, too.”

“You said you were never gonna go back there.”

“I'm going to save Dean, maybe find an angel to take him to Heaven. Once that happens, I'll take his place on the rack. End of story.”

He punched the steering wheel, making her jump as they past the sign for the mine. “No! That's not the end of the story! I don't want you going there again! If you come out still human like before, is he gonna be able to pick up the pieces like I did ten years ago?”

“Tom...”

“Be honest with me here!”

She turned to face him. “I don't expect to come out of there still human, alright? I know what happens to souls who spend centuries in Hell. I don't want to see that happen to him!”

“But you'll be a demon! You're willing to sacrifice your humanity for a guy you don't really know?”

“I know him better than you do! He saves people, Tom! He's smart, loyal, selfless, and the bravest man I know. Do those traits sound like the kind that you get sent to Hell for? They sound Heaven-worthy to me, not Hell. And if it means I lose my humanity, so be it.”

“But I don't want you to go to Hell! Not now, not ever!”

There was a tense and uncomfortable silence between the two cousins as Tom parked on the same hill he parked on ten years earlier. They both climbed out of the car and slammed the doors shut. Tom crouched on the top of it and looked down at the mines, ignoring Aline. She heard Sam and Dean get out of the Impala before she angrily stomped away from Tom.

Why couldn't he understand why she was going to Hell?

The fact that she would do anything to save Dean was pretty obvious to everybody they met over the past few years. Taking his soul out of Hell would be the last thing she ever did as a human. She swore that on her life.

She looked up and saw that she was standing in front of a familiar tunnel, freezing in her tracks.

Tunnel Number 5.

_Panic._

_Fear._

Harry Warden's breathing echoed loudly in her ears.

“ _They're dead! They're all dead!”_

“ _Nononono, we can't leave Tom and Aline!”_

Her breathing quickened, and she fell to the ground on all fours, her arms shaking as they tried to hold her up. Her heart pounded in her chest. She shut her eyes tightly.

_His_ image appeared behind her eyelids as she last saw him, as if he was memorizing them.

She didn't hear the sound of two cars pulling up behind her as she quickly stood up, eyes opening and locking right on _his_ familiar shape. She shook her head.

“No. No, please!” she pleaded, backing away.

_ He  _ crept closer, the pickaxe in his hand, matching her steps until she backed right into a familiar chest. She didn't register who it was as arms wrapped around her, holding her. She fought his grip violently, desperate to get away as  _he_ crept closer.

_ Get away...got to get away! _

“NO! Let me go! Let me go!”

That was when the one holding her kissed the top of her head, calming her down slightly. “It's alright, sweetheart,” a familiar voice soothed. “No one's gonna hurt you. Not while I'm around.”

She stopped struggling and looked into a familiar pair of hazel-green eyes, glancing behind her for a second.

_ He  _ was still there. The very sight of him made her whimper slightly, and her body quake in fear. Another pair of arms wrapped around her, joining Dean's.

“He's there, isn't he?” she heard Tom ask.

She nodded, burying her face into Dean's chest. “Make him go away,” she begged, her voice sounding small and fearful. “Please, Tommy. He's gonna—”

Tom hushed her and sang,  _“Nearly everyone you see like him and her and you and me pretends to be a pillar of society. A model of propriety, sobriety and piety, who shudders at the thought of notoriety.”_ He gave her a little nudge, cuing her to sing the next part which she did.

“ _The ladies and gents here before you, which none of them ever admits, may have saintly looks, but their sinners and crooks. Hypocrites.”_

“ _Hypocrites.”_

They sang the next part together as _his_ breathing quieted down until there was nothing but the sounds of Dean breathing, his heartbeat, and her's and Tom's singing.

“ _There are preachers who kill, there are killers who preach, there are teachers who lie, there are liars who teach. Take your pick, dear, 'cause it's all a facade.”_

She risked a glance up and saw that _he_ was gone. Once she realized where she was, she broke out of Dean's and Tom's grip, blushing and quickly climbing into Tom's car before either of the brothers could ask her any questions about what just happened.

It was a few minutes before Tom climbed in as well, starting the car before running his fingers through his hair.

“I'm sorry for not understanding why you did what you did.”

She waved him off. “It's okay. What did you tell them anyway? About...” She trailed off.

“I'm pretty sure they'll be able to put the pieces together on their own. I mean, you said they saw the report on TV earlier. It would take an idiot not to know that we were there that night. Even if you kept a majority of the details all to yourself.” He drove away from the tunnel. “We're goin' to Ben's, by the way.”

She nodded. “How much do you wanna bet we're gonna get an earful from him about you selling the mine?”

Tom pretended to think about it for a second before replying. “I'm not gonna be taking that bet, Batgirl.”

They both laughed and switched to telling different stories, taking their minds off of Tunnel Number 5.

* * *

**The song:**

_**Next time on Return to Harmony:** _

_“Bullshit. That mine is Harmony's life blood. We're talking families here.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to let you guys know I'm already working on the epilogue for this, and I'm not even finished with chapter 4! I might post a preview of it when I post chapter 4. I haven't decided yet. It takes place during Soul Survivor (hence the spoiler warning for the episode), but it's going to be AU (not just with Tom's appearance. There's going to be a lot more to it than that). It's six pages long, counting the two gifs I used for it (the one's I specifically used are when demon!Dean is breaking the wall open with the hammer and saying, "You act like I want to be cured. Personally, I like the disease."). I hope you enjoy it when I actually post it.


	4. Chapter Three: A Troubled Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aline and Tom visit Ben Foley before checking in to the Thunderbird Motel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't quite sure where to end this particular chapter, but I wanted the next scene to be on it's own.
> 
> And, yes, I decided to give Aline a dog when she was a kid. I figured she needed it considering all the crap she was gonna go through later on in life. So, the dog is my own creation (I don't actually have a dog. My cousin used to have a dog. Loved him to bits). Hope you enjoy it!

The ride to Ben's house seemed a bit too short, in Aline's opinion. Yet, there they were. She told Sam and Dean to stay in the car before she and Tom walked up to the front door and knocked. It was a few minutes before they saw Ben and gave him a small wave. The older man looked surprised to see the both of them as he opened the door.

“Tom. Aline. What are you two doing here?” he asked.

“What do you mean? I'm here to sign the papers,” Tom answered. “Aline's my witness.”

“Oh, they moved the signing to Monday.”

The cousins raised their eyebrows. Aline couldn't believe what she just heard.

“They moved it to Monday? Great.”

“Well, you're both here now. Want to come in and have a drink? I'm pretty sure I've got some birch beer for you, Aline.”

Tom and Aline looked at each other before nodding. “Yeah, okay.” The two walked in, and Ben closed the door. Together, the three walked into the living room. Ben took an alcohol bottle and a bottle of birch beer. He tried to grab three glasses, but Aline grabbed them for him, earning a gentle smile from the older man.

“As polite as always, huh, Aline?”

She smiled back. “It's one of the only things that hasn't changed in the past ten years,” she replied, setting the glasses down on the table.

Ben served the drinks. “We missed you both at the funeral. Of course, your father and your uncle missed you long before that.” He gave Tom one of the alcohol-filled glasses and Aline the birch beer filled one.

“Oh, he could have found me if he wanted to,” Tom replied.

“Me too. I've just been traveling cross-country with a couple friends of mine since '05,” Aline stated, deciding to keep the fact that she'd been in town the day of Uncle Eli's funeral to herself.

“You know, he'd kick your ass if he knew you were selling the mine, Tom, and he'd kick yours for letting him, Aline,” Ben stated.

“It is what it is, Ben,” Tom pointed out.

“Why should I stop him from doing something I'd do in his position? I'd be a hypocrite if I did that,” she threw in.

“Bullshit,” Ben protested, raising his voice. “That mine is Harmony's life blood. We're talking families here.”

Tom moved. “I was assured that everyone would get severance and that the more experienced men, like yourself, would be kept on,” he stated.

“For how long? Three months?”

Tom shook his head. “That's not my problem.”

“No! It's my fucking problem.”

“Those mines have been outdated since Tom and I were kids. But my uncle was just too stubborn to see it, and you know it,” Aline mentioned. It was something the two of them had talked about should a conversation like this be brought up by Ben.

She saw something light up in Ben's eyes. “Oh, so that's what this is all about. All right.” Ben put his glass on the desk and turned to take a box. “If you need to make peace with your daddy and your uncle,” he said and put the box on his desk, “there he is.”

The two cousins stared at the box which had Uncle Eli's ashes. They both set their glasses down and touched the box.

“I'm majority shareholder,” Tom stated with a note of finality in his voice as he took the box. “And I'm selling the mine. That's all there is to it.” They both started to leave, but Ben raised his hand with the glass and spoke, making them stop and turn around.

“Your dad and I protected those men! Selling the mine won't sit well with anyone in this town.”

Truthfully, Aline didn't really care about that. To her, selling the mine meant putting the past to rest once and for all. Looking over at Tom made her realize he felt the same.

“Well, come Monday, we're gone,” she said before they both exited the house, the box in Tom's hands.

Once they were far enough away, Tom asked, “Do the Winchesters know?”

He didn't have to be specific. She already knew what he was talking about.

“Their dad knew. It didn't take him long to put the pieces together. I actually had to tell him about that particular thing, though.” She sighed. “I don't want them to know. I know Dean's going to find out soon enough.” Once they were close to the Impala and Tom's car, she lowered her voice enough so that Tom could still hear her. “I've seen what they do to demons, Tommy. There are days when I get scared that they're gonna find out and they're gonna send me back to Hell, leaving me half-dead. That's the stuff that's been the main gist of my nightmares for the past three years now. We're already dealing with one demon, and Dean doesn't trust her at all. Hell, I don't even trust her.”

“What's her name?”

“Ruby. She says she knows a way to get us out of our deals. I don't know whether to believe her or not. I'm accepting what's gonna happen to me.” She turned around, opened the passenger door, and went to enter the Impala, but Tom's voice stopped her.

“I know when you accept something. Better than they do. I saw it ten years ago. I felt the same, remember that?”

She sat down on the seat behind Sam. “Yeah, I remember. I also remember how you blamed yourself for what happened eleven years ago and how I much I wanted to...” She shook her head, choosing to grit her teeth and let out a low growl when she thought about what she wanted to do to the people who blamed him. She looked down at her legs, clenching her fists tight enough to make her knuckles turn white.

“...Aline?” she heard Dean question, his voice bringing her out of those thoughts and calming her down.

She took a deep breath before asking Tom, “The Thunderbird, right?” She didn't have to look up to know that he was giving her a look that meant, 'We're not finished talking about this just yet.'

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

Dean pulled the Impala into the dusty parking lot of the Thunderbird Motel followed closely by Tom's car. It had been awhile since Aline had been there. She remembered having sleep-overs there with Sarah, Irene, and other girls back in high school. It was definitely easier than having it at someone else's house, that was for sure.

The three hunters climbed out of the car while Tom got out of the truck, prepared to go check in (duffles and bags in hand) when an ugly little dog came running toward them.

“Louis!” someone yelled out. “Get back here this instant.”

Aline picked up the dog and petted it's head. Ugly little thing. Wasn't a real dog in her eyes.

Her mind flashed back to the great Dane she used to have when Mom was alive, smiling slightly.

She was pulled from her memories by a woman running up to her and the boys before stopping short.

“Is Mel around?” Tom asked as he looked down at her.

“God, I hope not,” she said. “Mel has been dead for seven years.”

Aline looked down at the dog then at her. “Trade you the pooch for two rooms,” she stated.

“All right. Come on.” The woman motioned for the four of them to follow her. They went into the office, where she gave them their keys, and Aline returned the “dog.” After putting their names down, Aline and the boys took their bags and headed toward their rooms. Dean and Tom started a conversation about cars, but that smile wouldn't leave Aline's face.

“What are you thinking about?” she heard Sam ask.

“Just my dog,” she replied.

“You have a dog?”

“Used to. He was my best friend, and he died a couple weeks before my mom did. Mom and Dad took me to the shelter two days before my fifth birthday and let me pick what animal to get and what to name it. Dad tried to get me to pick a cat, but I refused each cat he picked out. Then I saw this great Dane. I don't remember how old he was, but he was pretty old. He saw me and wagged his tail. You know how you see this one animal, and you go, 'That's the one I want to get?'”

Sam nodded.

“That's what happened for me with him.”

“What did you name him?”

That was when she blushed. “You're gonna laugh at me.”

“I've heard a bunch of ridiculous names for dogs, Ally. I don't think yours could top those.”

She took a breath before saying, “Bruce Scoobert Doo Wayne.”

Tom and Dean stopped their conversation when the name came out of her mouth, and she could feel Dean staring at her. Tom already knew about Bruce. Hell, he had been the second person she cried to when Bruce died.

“He just... _looked_ like Scooby-Doo to me, okay? And he was my favorite cartoon dog at that point in time, and Batman's my favorite DC superhero. I was four, okay?”

“There's no need to be embarrassed, sweetheart,” Dean reassured. “I think it's a pretty awesome name for a dog.”

Her blush darkened as she smiled. “Thanks for that, Dean.”

That started a whole other conversation between the four of them about who was the better superhero. Of course, Dean and Aline both picked Batman, and Sam and Tom picked Superman. That conversation lasted until they passed another room. Loud noises were coming from it, making Aline think whoever was in there was either making their own version of Casa Erotica or watching it. The four of them stopped and listened, and Aline blushed profusely at the sounds and covered her face in embarrassment before adjusting her duffle on her shoulder and walking toward the room she was going to share with the Winchesters.

Tom followed her with a small smile on his face, probably thinking about the good times he had with Sarah. Dean and Sam were right behind them.

“Somebody's having fun,” Dean teased, and she could hear the grin in his voice.

Unfortunately, Tom's room was right next door to the busy couple's, and Aline's and the Winchesters' turned out to be next to Tom's. Aline felt bad for her cousin, knowing he probably wouldn't get any sleep tonight. She sent him an apologetic look as she unlocked the door and walked inside the room.

Fortunately, it wasn't Valentine's themed, but the downside was she could still hear the sounds from the couple two rooms away. Slightly, only slightly.

There were two twin beds, a couch, a couple chairs, and a TV, the usual stuff you'd expect to be in a motel room except sometimes there was either no couch or only one bed.

Aline set her duffle on one of the chairs and plopped down on one of the beds, sighing and running her hand over her hair.

That was when the fact that she was really back in Harmony really hit her hard, and the memories from that night played in her head.

_ They're dead! They're all dead! _

_ Nononono, we can't leave Tom and Aline! _

It was the last time she heard Sarah's voice and the last time she saw her. For all she knew, the Mercers had sold the store, and Sarah had gotten married to some guy that wasn't Tom, a guy that was probably there for her after Aline and Tom ditched town. 

_ Stay down, Harry! _

She could hear Sarah screaming for her life as the pickaxe embedded itself in the windshield of Axel's truck, just an inch away from her eye. Her best girlfriend had almost died that night. Hell, she, Tom, Aline, Irene, and Axel had all come close to dying that night, but no one had been as close to death as Tom and Aline.

She didn't even realize she was crying and shaking until she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her body. She closed her eyes and leaned into the comfort of the familiar body, the memories receding to the back of her mind for the moment.

Little did she realize, another familiar face was staying at the Thunderbird that night, one she hadn't seen in years. She also didn't realize that her nightmare (her first one) was going to come back to haunt her with another person joining the fray.

* * *

 

Next time on **Return to Harmony** : We find out who that familiar person Aline knows (that's staying at the Thunderbird) is! See ya then!


	5. Chapter Four: Murder, Murder in the Night Air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Irene comes face to face with Harry Warden and an unfamiliar face wearing a familiar costume.

Irene was in the room next door to Tom and two doors away from Aline. And, right now, she was busy with Frank, a married truck driver. After they were finished, and she was laying on the bed, she learned a shocking secret about him. You see, Frank was recording them together and giving previews to his friends at the plant, then selling a copy for a nice little profit. A cheap porno, if you will.

If you think that made Irene mad, you just made the understatement of the year.

Irene was as pissed as a mother cat when you mess around with her kittens. It's just something you don't do. So, as Frank left, Irene pulled on a pair of high heels, not bothering with clothes, and grabbed a gun out of her purse. She followed him out to his truck.

“Frank!” she yelled. “Frank, you son of a bitch!”

Frank turned back to look at her for a brief moment before turning back to his truck and sighing. “Irene,” he said as he looked back at her and she raised the gun at him. “Put some clothes on before some kid sees you.”

“I don't give a shit about the clothes! Give me the fuckin' tapes or I swear...”

“Irene, two things. One, I don't want you anymore. And two, I know the gun's not loaded.”

Irene had enough of him right then. “Fuck you, Frank!” She threw the gun at him, hitting him in the head.

“What the hell, Irene?” He opened the door to his truck, and Irene's eyes widened as she witnessed what happened.

A pickaxe came from the inside of the cab and buried itself in Frank's head. He fell to the ground in a bloody pile. Irene took off running back to the room, the video camera that Frank had was still recording, watching as she ran and the killer, along with someone else (but she didn't know that at that point), stalked her back inside. She was going to call for help, but she knew she didn't have much time. Instead, she ran into the owner's room and slid under the bed, putting her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming out.

From her hiding spot under the bed, Irene could only make out the bottom half of the stalker. Then she saw the bottom half of another person, standing right next to the stalker. The breathing from one of them sounded like Darth Vader though, so she wasn't sure if some kids were just going around with their Halloween costumes. But an everyday kid wouldn't have access to a real pickaxe used in the mines, and an everyday kid (or kids) wouldn't go and just kill some random guy at a motel unless they had lost all their marbles. Suddenly, both the killer and his associate (that's what she was assuming, anyway) moved away from the bed. The owner walked in, calling for her dog. She walked to the closet and opened it, only to find the killers. They both stabbed her (one with the axe and the other with some weird looking knife) and lifted her up against the light, burning her hair and making it rain sparks.

Irene let out a cry, which alerted the killers to her presence. And, as they looked under the bed at her, Irene began to freak out.

Because one of them was Harry Warden. The other was wearing a Red Hood costume, but the clothes were bulky enough to conceal any identifying features. But the eyes were what scared her the most, for they were completely black.

Harry grabbed her leg and tried to pull her out from beneath the bed, but she fought back, kicking him in the stomach. He tossed the mattress off the bed and stepped on the frame that held it up while Red Hood used the weird looking knife to slash at any part of Irene he could reach. Whenever Irene moved out of the way, she felt something drag her right back to Red Hood to receive more cuts and slashes across her lower body.

She kicked him in the stomach, making him growl angrily. Irene stood then and used the frame to protect her from both Harry and Red Hood. As long as they couldn't get the axe and that knife through, she was safe.

“What the fuck do you want?” she asked.

But they just stared at her, Red Hood glaring underneath the mask. She felt a cold chill despite the fact that she was freezing. They were going to tear her apart and kill her. She was as good as dead.

“Please Harry! Tom did it to you! It wasn't me! It wasn't Axel or Sarah or Aline or anyone! It was Tom! He forgot to bleed the lines! Kill him! Not me!” she begged, looking right at Harry.

But Harry swung the axe at her. She dodged it. He did it again and again, but she dodged every single time. Finally, Red Hood growled again and swiped his hand to the side, forcing the frame out of Irene's hands and fly away from her. He then covered her mouth and slashed her body repeatedly, her screams and cries of pain muffled by his gloved hand. It was minutes before he stopped, and Harry swung his axe so that it it her in the stomach.

Her blood splattered all over the wall.

 

* * *

 

** The Costume (found via Google Images):  
**

(with black eyes instead of white)

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song title comes from "Murder, Murder" from Jekyll & Hyde.
> 
> Fun fact for this chapter: Red Hood (in this fic, not from the Batman comics) was originally going to be dressed up as Jason Voorhees, but I decided to go with Red Hood because I thought it would be pretty cool to have three of the characters Jensen played as/did the voice for in the same fic.


	6. Chapter Five: Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aline bumps into a familiar face.

Aline woke up the next morning at the same time as usual, unaware of what had happened the night before to Irene and Frank. Sam was the first of the brothers to wake up to take his morning run and grab some breakfast for the three of them from a cafe he'd spotted on the way to the motel. She took her shower and got dressed all before Dean woke up.

It was a new routine for the three of them. Both Sam and Dean had told her on the ride to the Thunderbird that they had agreed on not taking any hunts. This self-imposed vacation would last until Tom signed the contract to sell the mine, which would be Monday. Vacation meant no researching, and Aline's and Dean's incoming trips to Hell would be pushed to the back burner (much to Sam's displeasure). The three of them made sure to call Bobby and let him know about that plan.

Fortunately, the older hunter didn't really have an objection to it, knowing they needed the time to relax considering they had been killing monsters left and right with no rests in between ever since their encounter with the Seven Deadly Sins. Hunting left little room in Aline's mind to think about her upcoming revisit to Hell, which was a good thing. She thought about it enough as it was. Throw in the massacre in Tunnel Number 5 and you've got a whole bowl full of things she wanted to avoid either thinking or talking about.

Hunting distracted Sam from trying to talk to her about her very obvious fear of going back to Hell.

It distracted him from asking about what exactly happened that night ten years ago (after going to Uncle Eli's funeral).

It distracted all of them from just talking.

That didn't mean they never talked. Yeah, they talked about hunts, they playfully argued about what to watch and what to listen to (most of the time in the Impala and always Dean and Aline vs. Sam, but the house rules always won out).

Both brothers learned not to ask Aline about what happened at the mine. If they did, she just immediately shut her mouth and paled, her wide fear filled eyes darting around as if she was watching for someone.

After her panic attack in front of Tunnel Number Five, she was half-expecting the questions to start up again today, but Sam didn't ask. Neither did Dean. They only made small talk with her and joked about different things, which relieved her. They all slept as well as they normally did, at least before Dean and Aline made their deals. Which meant little to no nightmares.

Always a good thing in her book.

Now, the three of them, along with Tom, were at Mercer's to buy a few things. It surprised both cousins that the name was kept the same, but another surprise was on the way.

“Really, guys?” Sam questioned, waving at the small piles of junk food resting in both Dean's and Aline's baskets. “Was she like this with you?”

Tom grinned. “Of course, she was. Once a junk food nut, always a junk food nut,” he teased. He didn't need to buy anything, just wanting to visit the store for old time's sake.

“We're watching a movie tonight,” Aline pointed out, ignoring her cousin's comment. “All of us are.”

“Says who?”

“Says us,” Dean replied. “We're on vacation, so we figured what better time to catch a movie?”

Sam cocked an eyebrow. “What movie?” he asked.

“No worries. It's not a chick flick, but it's a surprise.” Dean and Aline smirked at each other. It was something they'd talked about while picking up the junk food. They'd bounced movie titles back and forth before she'd mentioned one that she'd been dying to get both he and Sam to watch. It had taken a lot of convincing and bribing (buying him pie for the next couple months, washing Baby, etc.) before he'd finally agreed to it. “We can watch it back at the motel.”

Sam and Tom showed the same amount of reluctance Dean did, but Dean pulled the big brother card on Sam. Aline, on the other hand, whispered the movie title in Tom's ear before walking over to one of the checkout lanes once she checked with Sam that there was nothing else they needed to buy, whistling the theme song for “The Great Escape.” Dean, Tom, and Sam were right behind her.

Her wallet filled with money hustled from pool games and darts was out before she heard a female voice say, “They found someone dead at the Thunderbird. There's cops everywhere. Have you talked to Axel?”

The cashier's voice made Aline freeze.

“Megan, stop. Work waits for you. Go stock the display,” the familiar voice responded.

Aline glanced over at Tom and saw that his eyes had softened in a way they hadn't done in ten years. The woman sighed and turned, eyes widening at the sight of Aline and Tom.

Aline smiled warmly. “Hi,” she greeted.

“A-Aline? T-Tom?” the woman murmured as if she didn't believe what she was seeing.

“Sarah,” Tom replied.

“You're still working for your folks, we see,” Aline pointed out. She wanted to reach out and hug her, but she held back, thinking that she wouldn't want that considering both she and Tom had been gone for ten years without leaving a single word or calling to let her know they were alive and well. That was the one thing she felt guilty about after all this time. Sarah was her best girlfriend, and Aline had left town the night of the massacre without saying goodbye. Truth be told, she hadn't been thinking about her at all with how scared she'd been and how close death had come into her personal space.

“Tom. Aline,” Sarah repeated, tears in her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“I...I had to come back into town to clear some things up. I asked Aline to come with me,” Tom replied.

Sarah seemed to be embarrassed. “Oh. I'm so sorry for your father and uncle.”

Fake smiles appeared on both Aline's and Tom's faces. “Thanks.”

“Where did you two go? It's been...ten years.”

It was hard not to notice the tears in her eyes when she brought that up. Aline was about to nudge Tom, wanting to change the subject for Sarah, but he was already doing it.

“You look even more beautiful than when I left,” he stated to try to comfort her, to see her smile (which was what both cousins wanted), but it didn't work. On the contrary, Sarah seemed to be more sad, more tearful.

“Left? You both just vanished. Your dad and uncle didn't even know where you both were. You didn't tell anything to anybody. Not even to me. We all started to think that you both were dead.”

Aline's jaw clenched, feeling both upset and ashamed. Uncle Eli didn't know where they were? That was bullshit, and both Tom and Aline knew it, but they didn't want to point that out. Neither of them had much of a choice after what happened. Uncle Eli had been the one to bring up the idea, more like barked it out considering his emotions at that point. Tom and Aline didn't have to bring up the fact that they both hoped they could tell Sarah everything so that she could forgive them.

When they said everything, they meant _everything._

Even if it meant they sounded crazy.

“We're sorry,” Tom said.

Aline's eyes fell on a picture stuck to a wall. It was a picture of Sarah's husband, Sarah herself, and a boy. A fair-haired, green-eyed boy. They were smiling. “That's a beautiful family you have there. I guess it's not Sarah Mercer anymore.”

Sarah shook her head. “No. It's Sarah Palmer now,” she replied.

Aline didn't show how much that statement phased her, but she didn't like it. She had known about Axel's feelings for Sarah and how much he wanted to be with her, which was why Aline and Axel barely got along after she'd confronted him about it. She shoved her wallet back into the pocket of her jeans.

“I never thought Axel would settle down, but he always did like you,” Tom stated.

“As long as he treats you as you deserve, I can deal with that,” Aline replied.

“Yes, Ally, he treats me right,” Sarah stated, surprising Aline with the nickname.

“Good, because if it wasn't the case, we'd kill him,” Tom said seriously, making Sarah shiver.

Aline sent Sam a covert look, asking for him to pay for her stuff. Fortunately, he nodded, getting the message.

“We should get going,” Aline mentioned.

“What?” Sarah inquired.

Tom nodded. “It's good to see you, Sarah,” he said, and both cousins left. Just before getting out, they both turned around to look at Sarah one more time. She was checking the hunters' stuff out (which included Aline's junk food), stealing quick glances at the cousins as she did so. The two walked out to the Impala, leaning against the back doors.

It was a few minutes before Sam and Dean walked out, a bunch of plastic bags in their hands. Both cousins climbed into the backseat without a word, the brothers following after putting the bags in the back. Aline took the picture of herself, Tom, and Sarah out of her pocket and stared down at it.

“I didn't think you still had that.”

She looked up at him. “You honestly think I'd ever get rid of this? It was the only good thing to come out of that night,” she pointed out. “It was the last time for a long time that I got to pretend I was normal.”

Tom waved that statement off. “Being normal is overrated, anyway. I've been saying that for years, and you know it.” Sensing that she didn't believe that, he put his hands on her shoulders and added, “You hunt evil sons of bitches and save people. You and Sam and Dean are like supernatural cops. Hell, you're definitely Batman, except for the facts that you're a girl and you use guns. I think that balances out what he and your dad made you do.”

“But, my dad—”

“Is not gonna push you to do shit like that anymore. He's dead, Ally, for good.”

She looked away from him. “He's not dead yet.” She didn't have to be specific about who she was talking about. He already knew because Aline never kept anything away from Tom.

Not Hell.

Not what Dad made her do.

Not what her adopted father almost did.

Not how all that made her feel.

Not how much she started to get a sick thrill doing what she did.

Nothing.

“Who are you guys talking about?” Sam questioned.

Aline shoved the picture back into her pocket and looked out the window, refusing to look at anyone as she answered, “Some asshole I used to know. You're lucky you don't ever have to meet him, Sammy.”

Oh, how wrong she was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, season 4 foreshadowing! If you can guess who Aline was talking about, you get a slice of your favorite pie. I wasn't sure whether to end it after Tom's and Aline's chat with Sarah or with a little foreshadowing to season 4. Otherwise, this would've been two pages on my word processor, but now it's four.
> 
> This entire story right now (not including the epilogue) is 25 pages on my word processor all together so far! I like making master documents of all my multi-chaptered fics. My Supernatural Fanfiction Meme is 33 pages, while another fic I'm not gonna be posting (it's called "In the Dark." It's season 9 AU because I killed off Aline, and she's a demon, but it essentially follows the rest of what happens in season 9 for the first two chapters before jumping into season 10 in chapter 3) is 11 pages, and I'm not even finished with chapter 4. Getting back on topic, I hope you liked this chapter!


	7. Chapter Six: He Wants You!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aline and Tom are confronted by mine workers at the bar.

Later on that day at around 6 PM, the four of them decided to head to the local bar. Neither Sam or Dean brought up what happened at Mercer's or Aline's and Tom's conversation with Sarah, which Aline was definitely grateful for. They had watched “Jekyll & Hyde – The Musical,” much to Sam's delight and Tom's surprise. The other three were surprised at Sam's delight before he told them that Jess actually took him to see a few Broadway musicals before and after they started dating, like “Mamma Mia,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “Wicked.” Dean had snickered at “Mamma Mia.”

Both Tom and Aline sang along to each song, and, admittedly, Dean had thought it was cute that she did that.

They were still talking about it until they heard someone say, “He wasn't buried in no cave-in. They never did find his body, despite what the reports say.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw Aline clench both her jaw and her fists. He felt a bunch of eyes on the four of them. He could even feel the tension growing between the people in the bar and Tom & Aline. Instead, the four of them sat down at the counter. Tom sat in between Sam and Aline, and Dean sat next to Aline.

“Aw, hell. The Hanniger & Peverell kids. What the hell are they doing here?”

“They sure sound happy to see you,” Dean stated sarcastically, trying to lighten Aline's mood.

“Leave the kids alone,” he heard one of the men say.

“Relax, Hinch—” he heard the older man start to say, but his friend stood up, ignoring what he was saying and came closer to the four of them.

“You cocksucker!” Dean heard him shout, and both Aline and Tom stood up, the brothers doing the same, but it was too late. The man hit Tom. The older man, another man, Sam, and Dean came in order to stop the man. He saw the look of anger and surprise on Aline's face.

“Hinch!”

“Get the hell off!” Tom growled, looking at Hinch angrily.

“What the fuck?” Aline shouted.

“He's back because of you two, you fuckers! You both were responsible! He wants you!” Hinch succeeded in freeing himself from the other's grips and wanted to hit Tom again, but Aline pushed Tom out of the way and punched Hinch herself before the older man and the other man caught Hinch. However, another man caught Tom by his clothes.

“You're both in the wrong bar, kid,” he growled.

“Get off of me!” Tom yelled, making him do so by pulling his arms away.

The man wasn't happy and pushed Tom against the wall. Dean watched as Aline pushed Tom out of the way and dodged out of the way when the man moved to punch her. Therefore, the man hit the mirror that was hung on the wall. She then punched him hard in the face, and Dean swore he saw her eyes flash black. Yet, her eyes were back to normal when he blinked, making him believe he was just imagining things.

“Red!” he heard someone shout.

“Everybody, stand down, god damn it!” the older man shouted, making Dean look his way.

However, Hinch didn't listen and continued to speak. “You can be sure Harry's gonna kill the both of you for good this time, you hear me?”

The old man looked at him then the cousins. “Hanniger, Peverell, get your buddies and hit the door, now. Come on—”

“Why?” Tom interrupted.

“Because you people wanna blame us for the shit that happened a decade ago?” Aline yelled. “We didn't kill those people!”

She sounded fed up and angry, but the man pushed them both.

“Come on. Come on!” he ordered, following them around a corner.

Dean and Sam glanced at each other before doing the same, curious as to what they were going to talk about.

“It started with you, Tom. Half the people here know someone who died because of your fuck-up.”

“Harry Warden killed them, not me,” he heard Tom protest.

“I know that, but you—”

“Then why don't they blame _you?_ Huh? I mean, you were the sheriff. You were the one who didn't save them, remember? I mean, if they want _anyone's_ blood, it should be yours,” Aline pointed out.

The former sheriff sighed. “Yeah. I just saved your ass, Hanniger.  _Both_ of your asses. For the second time. But don't worry, kiddos, there won't be a third.”

“Good,” both cousins said at the same time.

The old man left to rejoin his friends, leaving Tom and Aline. Dean watched them glance at each other, having a whole conversation without saying a single word. 

 

* * *

 

 


	8. Chapter Seven: We're Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Aline talk to Sarah before she opens the store.

Her eyes shot open, and she sat up on the bed, panting from the memory of her nightmare. She'd been having this nightmare for days. It was the same one she had the day she, Dean, and Sam had come to Harmony for Uncle Eli's funeral.

 This time, though, it was different. Completely and utterly different.

**It began the same as the what-if nightmares, except it followed the actual events. This time, it flashed forward to the night before. She watched helplessly as Harry Warden and someone dressed up as Red Hood killed the truck driver and Irene. Screams left her lips as Red Hood sliced and slashed at Irene with the demon knife.**

**The fact that Red Hood had black eyes made her realize that he was a demon.**

**She screamed again as she watched Harry cut Irene's chest open with his pickaxe and yank her heart out. Like she was attached to them by a string, Aline followed them to a place where there was an empty heart-shaped candy box. Harry put Irene's heart in the box and placed the lid on top. There was a sticky note on the lid, which read, _'To Axel. Be Mine 4ever.'_**

**After the two killers made sure it was delivered, they were back at the Thunderbird. They both took off their masks, panting as they dropped them on the pavement.**

That was when she woke up. Every time without fail.

Their faces had been blurred, like she needed a pair of glasses just to see them. The only things she could make out were Red Hood's black eyes and the identical wicked smirks on their faces.

Then, the next day, she, Dean, Sam, and Tom heard about the triple murders that took place right outside their motel rooms.

One of the people that was murdered was Irene. That shocked Aline to her core.

Along with the fact that Irene's injuries mirrored the ones in Aline's nightmare.

She shuddered and looked around before looking at the clock.

6 AM.

_Sigh._

Aline had gone to bed around eleven, somewhat calmed down after the debacle at the bar. She knew her eyes had switched to black for just a few seconds (that always happened whenever she got angry like that), and there was a slight chance Dean had seen it, but she hoped he just mistook it as a trick of the light or something like that.

Her mind bounced between her nightmare and what happened at the bar at a rapid pace, which meant no chance of going back to sleep. There was only one option left. She stood up, changed into a gray Zeppelin t-shirt, light blue gym shorts, and a pair of black sneakers, and grabbed her iPod and headphones. She quickly put her hair up in a ponytail and wrote a note to the boys after snatching the extra room key and stuffing it in her front left pocket. She even grabbed a flask of holy water and the demon knife.

_'Woke up early. Couldn't fall back to sleep, so I'm just gonna take a run. I know it's Sammy's thing, but I need it. Even got the room key on me! You two should know what I want for breakfast and how I like my coffee by now. ;) Lots of love, Ally'_

She set it where she knew one or both of them would see it, put the headphones in her ears, and walked out of the room. There was no chance in hell that she'd look over at Irene's old room. If she did, her mind would just go back to her nightmare, and that was something she was planning on avoiding at all costs.

She hit shuffle and “Around The World (La La La La La)” by ATC started playing in her ears, starting her run around Harmony. Of course, she waved at the people who waved at her (usually they were younger men, some college age). It wasn't until Crush 40's “Live and Learn” that she realized she'd run all the way to Mercer's. She even saw Sarah unlocking the store for the day.

It took a little internal debating before she decided that she'd talk to her. Pausing her music, she walked up to her former friend and put her hand on her shoulder, making Sarah jump around real quick and drop the keys to the sidewalk.

“Oh god!” she gasped, clutching at her chest.

“Easy,” Aline said as she smiled at her. “It's just me.”

“I'm just a little jumpy these days.”

“Understandable, considering what happened. I'm sorry.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I was just going for a run along town. I woke up at six, and I couldn't really go back to sleep.”

Sarah cocked an eyebrow in clear disbelief. “You run?”

Aline grinned and shyly rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah. I've just had a lot on my mind lately. Anyway, I saw you unlocking the store and decided I wanted to, well, you know, talk when you weren't working.”

Sarah turned around and pointed to the store hours sign on the door. “Well, I'm at work, and the store opens in fifteen minutes.”

Just then, Aline felt a hand on her shoulder. She didn't have to turn around to know who exactly it was, test unnecessary.

“Fifteen minutes is plenty of time for now,” Tom stated. “Come on. Walk with us?”

Sarah sighed and followed them.

“You couldn't sleep either?” Aline asked Tom as they walked.

He shook his head. “Nah. After what happened yesterday? There was no freakin' way I could sleep.”

“What happened yesterday?” Sarah questioned, but both cousins shrugged it off.

“Stuff. The stuffy kind,” Aline replied, the three of them bursting out laughing at their inside joke.

Minutes later, they stood on the bridge, looking down at the chilly waters of the river below them. They hadn't been there for years. Aline remembered that this was their unofficial hangout spot. If any of them were in any kind of mood, they'd say, “Let's play bridge.” No matter how old they were, kids or teenagers, the bridge was their spot.

How Aline missed those days.

“We shouldn't have left the way we did,” Aline said, breaking the ice. Sarah turned to look at them, her eyes misty. “We know we fucked up.”

Sarah looked away. Tom didn't say a word. It was a surprise to most people that she and Tom could say the gist of what the other wanted to say. Most never got used to that. Sarah wasn't one of those people.

“It was a long time ago,” Sarah said, wiping at her eyes.

Both cousins touched her shoulder (Aline's touch more friend-like than Tom's, of course) and turned her back around.

“You know, the second I saw you, I regretted the last ten years of my life?” Tom said as he stared into his ex-girlfriend's eyes.

“You sell those mines and you'll regret the rest of your life too. You both will,” Sarah said, changing the subject.

Tom sighed.

“We didn't come here to talk about that,” Aline pointed out.

Sarah pulled her arm out of the cousins' hands and backed away from them.

“You two have no idea, do you? This town depends on that mine. From the miners to the cashiers at the grocery store.”

“That's not our responsibility,” Tom replied.

Sarah looked right at him. “I was your responsibility!” she yelled. “These people in this town depend on the mine like I depended on you!” Tears were falling from Sarah's eyes now. “You both ran away ten years ago! You left me here to help pick up the pieces! You just keep on running.”

“It didn't follow you for ten years. It sure as hell ain't gonna follow you for the rest of your damn life, no matter how long it is,” Aline said.

“No, it didn't. I faced it.”

“We can't,” Tom said. “We wish we could, but we can't. I lost my way, and I can never go back to the way it was before. I screwed up.”

“We both did,” Aline added. “There's no way either of us can go back to how it was before. It's too late for me to do that. Too damn late.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Sarah asked.

The cousins glanced at each other, silently conversing about how to put the fact that Aline was going to Hell in five months.

Aline looked back at Sarah and said, “Don't worry about it.”

“No! You just said it's too late for you to go back to the way things were before. You can't just act like it's nothing to worry about.”

Aline sighed, running her fingers over her hair. “I just meant I'm not the same girl I was ten years ago. I've seen and done things I never dreamed of doing. I can't go back to that.”

_Lies. All lies._

They were half-truths, but they were still lies.

“Just...don't sell the mine. Please,” Sarah begged after a few minutes of processing that information. She then stuffed her hands in her pockets and took off back towards the store.


	9. Chapter Eight: Murder, Murder it's a Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Winchesters, Aline, and Tom go to Hanniger Mines for the second time. This time, Aline and Tom plan on talking to Ben.
> 
> But things don't go as planned when they run into a familiar face and his new partner-in-murder.

To say that the brothers weren't surprised about Tom's change of heart the moment he and Aline came back to the Thunderbird would be untrue. Still, neither of them questioned it on the drive to the mines. The four of them rode up there in the Impala instead of Tom's truck (one of them would've had to ride in the back, and nobody wanted to do that).

As Dean parked in front of the mine, Aline saw Martin talking to one of the people that worked in the mine. She yanked Tom down to hide from him, earning questioning looks from the brothers. Tom looked confused before she mouthed Martin's name, realization dawning on his face. The two cousins had gone to school with him, and they both knew that, if given the chance, Martin would kick their asses from Harmony to Vancouver and back.

Once Sam confirmed that Martin was gone, the brothers and the cousins got out of the Impala. Aline held her hand out, motioning to Sam and Dean that they wanted to do this alone. Sam nodded in understanding. Dean, on the other hand, tried to go with them, probably remembering her panic attack from the day they arrived in town.

“You'll be the first one I call if something happens, Dean. Don't worry,” Aline said with a reassuring smile. “Hell, I'll even call you when we're on our way back up. You've got my word.”

Dean nodded, and she and Tom approached two miners that were talking about paperwork. The two miners got quiet real fast and just glared at the cousins.

“Tom? Aline? What the hell are you two doing here?” one of them asked as the other took the paperwork and walked away.

“Where's Ben?” Tom asked. “We need to talk to him.”

“You can't. Neither of you can. He's down in the mine.”

Tom and Aline didn't even need to look at each other before beginning to walk away from him. “We're goin' down,” Aline said.

“Like hell you are,” he said, stopping their forward motion.

Tom glared at him. “We grew up in these mines, Riggs. I think we'll be just fine.” That was the truth. Uncle Eli had brought Aline to the mines every day until she was old enough to go herself. She'd learned a lot from the experience and had even started working there in the summer. From the moment she started working in the mines, Tom and Aline had become attached at the hip, the miners getting used to the sight of the two cousins working together. Just like outside the mine, you never saw one working without the other somewhere close by or within cell range.

Riggs sighed and led the cousins down to the mine. They both put on blue jumpsuits as they walked.

“Who's bleedin' the line on three?” Riggs asked. A man with a bandaged hand waved at them. Riggs looked over at Tom and Aline and smiled. “Red'll take you down there. I'm sure you three will have a lot to talk about.”

Tom and Aline exchanged a look before getting into the cart with Red. Red was one of the guys that tried to kick their asses at the bar the night before. She could only imagine what he'd do for revenge. Fortunately, they rode in silence until about half way.

Aline grinned at Tom as she asked, “So...how's the hand?”

Tom smiled back at her until Red glared at the both of them, which caused Aline to shut up quickly.

“Don't touch anything,” Red growled as they arrived at his station. It was much like the one that Aline worked in five before Harry and the other miners were trapped inside. “I'll call for Ben.” Red went to the phone in the wall and began to talk to one of the other miners as the cousins looked down the dark tunnel. Aline had mainly worked on five with Tom, but they both had worked on three a couple times. They slowly made their way towards the metal box where the line bleeders all worked.

“I know my job, Harry,” Tom whispered.

They spied the valves that ran the methane. A dusty and dirty miners mask hung next to them. She felt her palms sweating as she stared deep into the goggles. It was still too fresh for her. She turned around only to have both a demon blade swung at her, the demon blade cutting through the fabric of her jumpsuit. She hissed in pain and froze at the sight of the person wielding the pickaxe.

It was Harry.

The one next to Harry (that was wielding the demon blade) kicked her in the stomach, bringing her attention back to him. The attack sent her into the metal office, right on top of Tom.

It was Red Hood, looking exactly as he did in her nightmare the night before. Black eyes and all.

Harry shut the door and jammed it so neither of the cousins could get out. Then he and Red Hood headed for Red. Aline shook the door, trying to get Red's attention. When that didn't work, she tried kicking down the door, her heart pounding in her chest.

Red turned around before being psychically shoved into the wall, the phone dropping from his hand. Harry covered his mouth with his hand while Red Hood cut up his body with the demon knife. Red's screams of pain were muffled, unable to be heard by the phone dangling inches away from the ground. He tried to fight out of the psychic hold, but it was no use.

Harry removed his hand when Red Hood was finished and bashed Red with the pickaxe.

Aline took out her gun and tried to shoot the two killers, but the bullets only grazed their arms. Beside her, Tom quickly pulled her cell phone out of her pocket with shaking hands, attempting to call one of the brothers.

“Shit,” he muttered.

“What?” she asked, looking away from the murderers.

“You don't have any service!”

Aline kicked the door hard, shouting curses into the otherwise empty air. The two of them banged on the door of their cell.

Red continued to fight Harry and Red Hood. He had Harry down and was about to kill the killer with his own weapon when Harry kicked it back and embedded it in Red's head just as Red Hood stabbed him in the back with the demon knife with the precision of a hunter. He fell to the ground in a puddle of his own blood.

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

“Dammit! Answer your phone!” Dean stated, annoyance and worry seeping into his tone. It had been twenty minutes since Aline and Tom entered the mine to talk to Ben, and he still hadn't gotten a call as to when the two of them were coming back up.

“Maybe she doesn't get cell service down there. Remember that mine we were in for that hunt last year?” Sam reminded him.

Before Dean could even answer, he heard a gun shot, followed by another. The brothers glanced at one another before running into the mine. They were stopped by a miner.

“You can't go in there,” he stated.

“But my friend and her cousin are down there!” Dean shouted. “They wanted to talk to Ben Foley.”

Just then, another miner ran up to the three of them, focused only on the miner. “There's trouble down in three,” he said. “Red's into it again. Riggs' said we gotta get down there. He's down there with Hanniger and Peverell.”

Dean froze, his heart stopping in his chest.

“We're coming with you,” Sam stated. “We're friends with Aline and Tom.”

The miners nodded and took the brothers down to tunnel three. Dean heard the resounding sound of someone banging on a door.

“Red!” one of the miners called as the four of them ran to the tunnel. “Red?”

The bloodied, unmoving body was the first thing Dean saw (he rightly guessed that it was Red), but he couldn't bring himself to care.

“Jesus Christ.” One of the miners (the nametag on his uniform ID'd him as Riggs) lowered while others murmured, shocked, and put two fingers on Red's neck.

“Is he dead?” Dean heard Tom ask, catching his attention.

“Riggs! Is he dead? Get us out of here!” Aline questioned.

Dean ran over to the cage, grabbing her hand as he breathed a sigh of relief. “Don't you dare do that again,” he said. Then he added as the men moved closer to the cage. “What happened?”

Neither Tom nor Aline answered, but he could see that their faces were pale like they had seen a ghost.

“Get us out of here,” Tom demanded.

Dean tried to open the door, along with another miner, but they didn't manage to open it.

“It's jammed. Give us a hand,” the miner stated. Someone else took his place and tried to open the door while the cousins were getting more impatient.

“Get us the fuck out of here!” Aline shouted, her jaw clenching in anger and impatience.

The door eventually opened, and the cousins could get out. However, Riggs grabbed Tom and pinned him against the cage, much to Dean's shock.

“What'd you two do, Tom? What did you do?” Riggs asked, clearly pissed off.

Aline roughly yanked him off of Tom, glaring darkly at the miner. “We didn't do anything!” she yelled before running her fingers through her hair. “Shit!”

_What happened?_

 

 


	10. Chapter Nine: He Ain't Comin' Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Aline find out the truth about what exactly happened to Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a roll with this fic! I've even got titles planned out for the rest of the chapters. Ten is in the works right now (the first half is the interrogation), the murder chapters are titled (they just need to be written out, but the next one is gonna be pretty short, you can be sure of that), the big reveal chapter is titled as well (I can tell you for sure that it's gonna be one big flashback chapter), the finale chapter is named too (not talking about the epilogue). As of right now, I can tell you that this will be 17 chapters, 19 counting the prologue and epilogue. I won't say the names of them, but two chapters are named after Skillet songs off of their album Rise (I highly recommend listening to it straight through, no shuffling! To reference HUA Alucard, it's like _House of the Dead_ , only like… a hundred times more awesome!).

Valentine's Day. The worst holiday, in Aline's opinion. Not just because of the memories associated with the day, but because of the fact it reminded her of the fact that she was single. She didn't really care about that, though

Now, why was she thinking about Single's Awareness Day right now? Especially after she'd come face to mask with Harry Warden and Red Hood?

Because the hospital she, Tom, and the Winchesters were in had Valentine's Day decorations hung up. Plus two, it was Valentine's Day that day. Tom and Aline were getting their cuts stitched up, even though Aline could do it herself with either hand. That was thanks to Dean.

The two cousins refused to talk about what exactly happened in three. Especially with Riggs. They were both fed up with being accused for killings that weren't their fault.

Riggs was the one who insisted on the two of them going to the hospital to get stitched up.

“Just tell us what happened,” Sam stated. He was sitting down in a chair next to the bed. Dean, on the other hand, stood right next to her, holding her hand.

She'd been stitched up first since hers was the deeper out of the two, but she kept her shirt off (luckily, she had decided to wear a camisole underneath her shirt that day). She shook her head in response, stopping when she saw Ben. “Where the hell were you?” she asked.

On her right, Tom looked up from his own cut to the older man.

“I was in tunnel 3. We found Red,” Ben pointed out.

“It was Harry Warden,” Tom said, convinced. “And some guy dressed up as Red Hood. Maybe a buddy of his or something.”

Ben looked between the two of them, not believing it. “Tommy, come on, you're not serious. Plus, a character jumping out of a comic book?”

“They attacked us, and then we sat there and we watched watched them kill Red,” Aline explained. She wanted someone to believe them. After all, it was the truth. They saw it with their own eyes.

“You know how crazy that sounds?”

Aline clenched her jaw, getting angry. She let her eyes flash black for just a second as Tom replied angrily, “It's fucking nuts, okay? I know that. _We_ know that. But they were both there and they tried to kill us!”

The nurse who was trying to stitch up Tom's injury spoke, “Sir, please relax.” She finished stitching and put a dressing on it. “Okay. You can get your shirt back on now.”

Both cousins stood up, thanking her.

“Tommy, Ally, what exactly did you see?” Ben questioned.

However, neither of them had the time to answer because Sarah came, much to Aline's surprise.

“What happened to you two?” she asked.

Neither of them answered, instead choosing to look at her.

“They were attacked,” Sam answered, seeing neither of them answered.

A concerned look appeared on Sarah's face. “By who?”

Aline and Tom glanced at each other before Aline said, “Nobody.” Neither of them wanted to pull Sarah into this, but they also didn't want her to think they were crazy (the other kind, not the playful kind).

“Harry Warden and Red Hood,” Ben said with a fake smile that Aline wanted to slap off. Clearly, he still didn't believe them. “It happened in the mine.”

Sarah frowned. “What were you two doing in the mine?”

“We were gonna tell Ben that I'm not selling it,” Tom replied.

Sarah and Tom looked at each other for a moment before a voice angrily asked, “And why the hell not?”

It was Axel.

Sarah jumped, and she, Ben, the Winchesters, Aline, and Tom turned to look at the sheriff. Sarah started to move away from Axel.

“You find something in town that's suddenly worth staying for?”

Aline shook her head, angry to see the sheriff and her best girlfriend was ill-at-ease. “Axel, you were always jealous of Tom and Sarah. That's why our friendship ended. You just couldn't take that they were dating.”

“You mean my wife Sarah, do you?” Axel asked as if he wanted to get one or both of the cousins angry. “Sarah who lives in my house? Who is the mother to my son?” He moved closer to Tom, Sarah, and Aline and continued. “Who I share a bed with and have sex with?”

Sarah shouted, anger seeping into her voice, “That's enough!”

“That Sarah?”

“Enough!”

Aline looked at them. How could Axel talk like that? Speak about her best girlfriend like that? At that moment, she wanted to do one thing.

Hit Axel.

Tear him apart.

Kill him.

Her lips curled in a snarl, and her eyes flicked black, her posture unconsciously slipping into her old role in Hell bit by bit. Nobody talked about Sarah like that without paying the consequences. She was sure she would've actually growled and done those things if Axel hadn't interrupted her thoughts, inadvertently saving his own skin.

“Harry Warden, right? He attacked you?”

“Yeah,” Tom replied, causing her eyes to go back to blue. “And Red Hood.”

“You know, Red Hood doesn't even exist. This town's in a frenzy because of you two. And I'm gonna put an end to that right now. You want to tell them or should I?” This question was for Ben, who had sat down when Axel walked over. Both cousins looked over at him, Aline's eyes passing over the brothers.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Ben asked.

“Fine. I'll tell them, then. You see, Tom and Aline, my dad, who drank himself to death, along with your dad, your uncle, and Ben here, decided to take the law into their own hands ten years ago. They killed Harry Warden.”

Ben stood up. “Axel,” he yelled.

“And Sheriff Burke covered it up,” Axel finished, smiling as if it was funny. Aline didn't believe what she heard, and both she and Tom looked at Ben whereas Axel continued. “We couldn't have the town fathers on the hook for vigilante justice. You see, Harry wasn't buried alive in the mine, but he's sure as shit was dead and buried. And we're gonna lay that to rest, aren't we?” Axel said, looking at Ben.

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

They (meaning Tom, Aline, Dean, Sam, Axel, and Ben) walked into the forest not too far from Hanniger mines. Tom was by Sarah's side, and Aline was sandwiched between Dean and Sam (within reaching distance of Tom though. Her old habits began to come back the moment Tom joined up with them) while Axel led them through. Martin was with them along with the former sheriff, Jim Burke. Aline had introduced all of them to Sam and Dean before they started walking, of course. Axel was impatient about it, though, clearly wanting to put the story that Harry was back to rest.

“So, where is it?” Axel asked.

“I don't know what you think you're gonna find,” Jim snapped at him.

“Jim, just show me where the body's buried,” Axel responded. “And we won't have any problems,” he added.

Sarah shivered as they got closer to the site. Tom took off his jacket and placed it on her shoulders. Aline smiled at the gesture, knowing her cousin wasn't over his feelings for the now-married woman. Axel, on the other hand, glared at Tom for the simple gesture. Aline shook her head at Axel's jealousy.

“Once we find the old escape hatch, it's just beyond there,” Ben said.

Axel, taking his eyes off Tom and Sarah, nodded his head and began to walk forward.

“Sheriff, you really think that dangling a set of decade-old bones in the town square is gonna clear up these murders?” Jim asked. “I mean, we do live in a society now where every kid in America believes that the dead don't stay dead.”

The three hunters froze at that, but they shook it off and resumed walking. It was true, though, and they knew it. Better than anyone walking to Harry Warden's resting place. Except both Dean and Sam had died (well, Sam had died, and Dean had been close to dying last year, but that's beside the point) and came back. But, for them and every other person who makes that kind of deal, coming back came with a price.

“No,” Axel replied. “But it'll stop people from believing that the boogey man is back in town. And then I can finally get on with my investigation.”

“Found the hatch,” Martin announced as he came to a fenced off region. Jim pointed to the rusty old fence.

“Yep,” he said. “This is where we found him. Bleeding at the hatch.”

That's when something caught Martin's eye. “Over here!” he called out.

Everyone walked over to where he stood over a large pile of rocks. “I found it.”

Aline clenched her jaw and her fists, struggling to keep her fear from showing, but apparently some of it showed since Dean wrapped his arm around her tightly, knowing that she didn't want anyone to know how afraid she was.

“Or what used to be it.”

“What the hell is this?” Axel asked as he stared down at the unmarked grave.

“Animals must have got at him,” Jim said.

“Animals?” Axel questioned. “Well, are you sure that he was dead when you buried him?” It sounded to Aline like he wasn't too sure about the two older men's story right then. Jim and Ben both seemed to be insulted by this fact.

“Damn right he was dead,” Ben said. “There was no pulse. There was too much blood. There was no life left in him at all, right?” he asked Jim.

“I shot him,” Jim said. “I shot that son of a bitch dead. Now unless he was immortal or something, he shouldn't be alive after all that lead was pumped into his chest.”

“Yeah and we buried him right here.” Ben pointed to the makeshift grave. “It's a damn better burial than that son of a bitch deserved.”

“And you're absolutely sure that he was dead when you buried him, Ben?” Axel asked.

Ben hesitated for a minute before answering. “There is now way that he could be alive.”

“God damn it!” Axel walked away from the grave and over to Sarah, who had hid back from the rest of the group. “I want statements from the both of you,” Axel said, pointing at Jim and Burke. Then he pointed over at Tom and Aline. “And you two, I want you back at the station right now. We got a dead miner to discuss.” He then turned and left. Axel grabbed Sarah's arm and started to pull her away. “Come on, Sarah,” he said.

“What about us?” Sam asked.

“You can go back to your hotel room. Come on gentlemen,” Martin said. Ben, Jim, Sam, Dean, Tom, and Aline began to head after Axel and Sarah, but Tom and Aline turned around to talk to Martin, Aline waving Dean away with a small reassuring smile.

“What were you doing at the mine earlier?” Tom asked.

Martin looked at him like he was crazy. “I was doing my job,” he replied. “Something that you both should really learn how to do.” He then pointed at the two of them. “And you're both the suspects. Not me.”

Tom and Aline turned to leave the woods then.

* * *

_**Next time on Return to Harmony:** _

_“FBI. If I recall correctly, it wasn't your dream job. You wanted to be a journalist.”_

_“Dreams change. Especially when some wacko tries to kill you on your way back from work.”_

**_See you guys then._ **

 


	11. Chapter Ten: Be Mine 4Ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting interrogated by Axel, Tom and Aline find out something interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A deleted scene is included in this chapter. Just look up "my bloody valentine deleted scene 8," and it's the first one on there (not including the ads).
> 
> Enjoy!

“I didn't kill the guy in the mine! Neither of us did!” Tom called out for about the thirteenth time within the hour. He, as well as Aline (a tactic just to see if they would blab about how exactly they would tell their story to Axel while he watched on the other side of the two-way mirror. The only things they'd talked about were the last few hunts she'd went on with Sam and Dean), was sitting on a chair in the Harmony PD's interrogation room.

Axel paced behind them, waiting to see if either one of them confessed to what they clearly didn't do.

“I know that somebody wants you to think that we did, but we didn't!” Aline added.

“Relax,” Axel said, sitting in a chair across from the cousins. “We'll talk about that in just a moment.” He sat there for a moment, staring at them. “So...why are the both of you really back in town?”

“You know why,” Tom said.

“No. I don't know why someone would miss their own father's funeral, their only living uncle's funeral, when their best friend and ex-girlfriend went to it, but show up to sell the only thing that daddy and uncle left them.”

“If you _really_ must know, I actually  wasin the area for Uncle Eli's funeral. With Sam and Dean. I asked them if we could drive to the church since we were close by. Plus, we had just wrapped up a case,” she stated.

“The three of you travel a lot for your job?”

Aline nodded.

“What's your job then?”

“FBI. Except we're taking a little vacation because I wanted to at least visit this town one more time.”

Axel's brow cocked in disbelief. “FBI. If I recall correctly, it wasn't your dream job. You wanted to be a journalist.”

“Dreams change. Especially when some wacko tries to kill you on your way back from work.”

“When?”

“Four years ago. St. Louis. Sam and Dean saved me. I've since returned the favor, and we've been working together ever since. We're about as close as me and Tom, to be honest.”

“What was the case that you finished?”

“That's classified.” It was a ghoul going rampant in Wheeling, taking random people from a certain bar. Luckily, she and the Winchesters managed to gank it without any major injuries.

“Maybe I should ask Sam and Dean what it was.”

“They'll just tell you the same thing I did.”

“Then tell me why neither Sarah or I never saw you at the funeral.”

She was silent for a few minutes as she leaned forward, putting her elbows on the table and narrowing her eyes at Axel. “All you need to know is that some crazy person was doing crazy crap, and it caught the attention of our boss. We caught him, he's rotting in jail, end of story. And, in case you haven't heard, we aren't selling the mine.”

“In fact, we've decided to stick around town,” Tom threw in.

“I'm only gonna be able to stay for five months before Dean and I get reassigned to a different team.”

“True.”

Axel leaned forward and glared at them both. “And why is that? Staying, I mean,” he asked.

Tom remained quiet for a moment, sharing a look with Aline, before smiles curled onto their lips.

“You know she only settled for you. Right?”

“My God.” Axel laughed. “What the hell did you just say tome?” he asked.

Aline leaned forward with a smirk, that mindset of mentally torturing Axel subconsciously playing in her head. “Sarah,” she clarified. “Settled. For...”

She didn't get to finish before Axel's fist was connecting with her jaw, followed by Tom's, and the table they had just been sitting at went flying across the room. Axel went forward and tackled both cousins to the wall, one hand grasped tightly on their shirts.

“You stay the fuck away from my wife!” Axel yelled at them. “Both of you! You hear me?” That's when Martin burst in and separated Axel from the cousins. “You both stay the fuck away from my wife!”

“Axel!” Martin yelled. “Axel, calm down,” Martin said.

“Lock them up, Martin! Lock their asses up!” Axel yelled.

Aline and Tom rubbed their sore jaws and checked each other for other injuries.

“I can't do that!” Martin yelled. “The miner foreman confirmed that both Tom and Aline were stuck in that cage when they came down.” He paused for a moment to allow Axel to take it all in. “Somebody else was down there. Maybe two somebodies. And after what we found in that box a couple days ago, I guarantee you that they were looking for another heart to give to...”

She froze at the mention of the box, remembering her nightmare from the night before she talked with Sarah. Harry and Red Hood had put Irene's heart in a heart-shaped candy box to give to Axel. Tom glanced over at her and took her hand in his reassuringly. She had mentioned the nightmare to him on the way back to the motel.

“That's great,” Axel said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “That's fuckin' wonderful.” He walked out of the room and slammed his fist against the wall.

Both cousins stared at him for a moment.

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

Aline, Tom, and Ben got out of the police station sometime later. The younger two were angry. Very angry.

Ben spoke while they walked in the street. “Won't be long before Axel locks you both up for good.”

“Just because Axel wants to think that we did it doesn't mean that we did. There was someone else down there,” Tom answered.

Aline clenched her jaw, one thought coming to mind. Maybe she was getting a bit restless from the small vacation the brothers (more Sam than Dean, Dean had admitted) had insisted upon, but she was sure Harry, along with someone else (maybe a demon that discovered him?), haunted the mine.

“Yeah, Harry and some other nutjob with a DC obsession. You don't stop saying that. But how? Why?”

“I don't know, Ben,” Aline answered honestly. “Maybe to finish what he started ten years ago.”

“If I were you two, I'd grab your buddies and get the hell out of town.”

Both cousins shook their heads, not agreeing.

“No. No, we're not running this time,” Tom stated, leaving no room for arguments. “We're gonna find them.”

Tom and Aline opened the doors of his truck (they had ridden to the station in it after she reassured Sam and Dean that she'd be fine) and got in.

“If you don't find either of them, I'm betting they find you.”

“Or you,” Aline answered back.

Ben didn't say anything and, after a last look towards him, the cousins left.

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

That night, Tom, Aline, and the Winchesters (they had insisted upon coming, and both cousins agreed) drove down to the mines in the Impala. Tom opened the doors of the infamous tunnel with an iron crowbar while the three hunters held guns loaded with salt rounds and iron crowbars (flasks of holy water and demon knives in their pockets), along with flashlights.

Aline had told the boys her theory, and none of them objected the idea or gave evidence that proved otherwise. That was why they had the salt-loaded guns, iron crowbars, and holy water on them.

But they didn't get in. Both brothers tried picking the lock, but they were about as unsuccessful as Tom was. The four of them turned around and walked a little while Tom looked for the tablets in his coat.

“Since we know where his body is, we could burn his bones,” Sam suggested. “Maybe it'll stop Harry from haunting the ones who have something to do with this place.”

“But what about the demon?” Aline questioned. “We don't know who it's possessing since it's and body are covered by the Red Hood costume.”

“We'll focus on getting rid of Harry first. Then we'll worry about the demon. Sam and I'll burn the bones. You two make sure no one comes out of there. If it's the demon, exorcise it,” Dean replied, earning a nod from Aline. “That means stay here.”

“Right.”

“We'll keep the car here.”

The brothers then walked toward Harry's resting place. Once they were gone, Tom looked over at her.

“How are you gonna exorcise it? Wouldn't it hurt you?” he inquired, popping two pills in his mouth.

She pulled a tape recorder out of her pocket, a pair of headphones wrapped around it. “Bobby recorded it for me, and he gave this to me when he found out what I am,” she replied. “I bought the headphones, though. I don't want demonic earwax in my ears. Cool, right?”

Before he even answered her, Tom turned back to the door, his face paling and his eyes widening in shock. She followed his line of sight and saw it.

The door was open.

_Fear._

Aline quickly pulled her gun out of the back of her jeans, and they both aimed their flashlights toward the inside of the tunnel.

Nothing.

Tom raised his light to see above the tunnel before nudging his cousin. That was when she saw what he saw: a light in the forest. They both lowered their lights and watched, Aline's heart beating faster in her chest. Then the light disappeared, surprising her. They glanced at each other for half-a-second before running towards the light's direction. When they were at the place where the light was, Aline looked around them.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice reminded her of the fact that Dean had said to stay in front of the entrance of tunnel five.

Just then, her eyes fell on someone, pushing the voice all the way to the back of her mind. She and Tom kept on running, hoping to catch the person.

Suddenly, they came in front of an old cabin. Her grip on her gun tightened when she heard the sound of a twig cracking. She whirled around to see, but no one was there. She lowered her gun slightly (but not her guard, a hunt six months ago taught her the repercussions of that mistake), and she and Tom came closer to the cabin's door. They both glanced at each other, wondering if they should open the door and enter, and they entered. While inside, they moved while she searched for threats, her gun raised. Tom lowered his crowbar to rest at his side.

There were a bunch of pictures on this one wall, but she ignored them.

Her ears pricked at every sound until she was sure no one else was there with them. She lowered the gun before her eyes fell on an opened heart-shaped box of chocolate with a rat beside it, freezing for the second time that day.

The box was lying on an unmade bed by the stairs.

“Tom,” she said, her voice no louder than a whisper compared to her loud heartbeat. “Look at that.”

He looked down at the box and moved closer to it as the rat scurried away. Aline followed right behind him, putting her gun back in her jeans. He knelt down on the bed, placed the crowbar beside him, and picked up a card.

It was a Valentine. With a smiley face in a red heart and everything.

He opened it and read it, his eyes widening as he handed the card to Aline. What was written on the inside shocked her to her core.

_'To Axel. Be Mine 4Ever. Love, Megan.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was four pages on my word processor. This whole fic (plus the title page, extended summary, cover, disclaimer, warnings, and fonts) is 45 pages. And I'm not even finished yet! 17's not definite, but I just named them off the top of my head a couple nights ago. I'll tell you this: the chapter after the reveal is going to be from someone else's POV (I won't say who, though. I will say that it's not Aline's or Tom's).


	12. Chapter Eleven: Murder, Murder it's a Right Scare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben comes face to face with the murderers.

Ben was in his living room, totally drunk. Tom's and Aline's words had affected him, and he couldn't get them out of his mind. On the table beside the armchair where he was sitting, there was a bottle of alcohol opened. A shotgun was leaning against the table.

“ _Just because Axel wants to think that we did it doesn't mean that we did. There was someone else down there,” Tom answered._

“ _Yeah, Harry and some other nutjob with a DC obsession. You don't stop saying that. But how? Why?”_

“ _I don't know, Ben,” Aline answered honestly. “Maybe to finish what he started ten years ago.”_

“ _If I were you two, I'd grab your buddies and get the hell out of town.”_

_Both cousins shook their heads, not agreeing._

“ _No. No, we're not running this time,” Tom stated, leaving no room for arguments. “We're gonna find them.”_

_Tom and Aline opened the doors of his truck and got in._

“ _If you don't find either of them, I'm betting they find you.”_

“ _Or you,” Aline answered back._

Suddenly, a dog barked.

Ben picked up his gun. “Who is it?” he called out. He stood up hardly and walked to the door, opening it and walking out. With a smile, he raised his shotgun to his eyes and aimed around, searching.

There was no one there.

He then lowered his arm and laughed. “Damn Harry Warden,” he said, staggering. “Got me aiming at shadows. Aiming at the shadows of the night.” He reentered his house, letting the shotgun hang at his side. He put it on his shoulder and staggered toward his living room.

Suddenly, Harry Warden and Red Hood came, and Harry hit Ben with his axe. The old man screamed and fell. He turned to see who it was and discovered two masked faces, one holding an axe...an axe with blood. The other was holding a knife with weird looking symbols on it, and his eyes were completely obsidian.

His eyes opened wide, his semi-drunkeness quickly switching to sobriety. “It _is_ you,” he said while the miner and his partner pointed their weapons toward him. Then Harry raised his axe and brought it down. However, Ben rolled in order to avoid the weapon and get up as fast as he could, causing it to stick in the wood floor.

Though he wasn't fast enough because he felt something grab his shoulder and push him into the nearby wall. Ben's eyes were wide with horror as the two killers neared him, screaming as Red Hood slashed him who knew how many times.

None of those slashes were deep enough to cause him to bleed out and lose consciousness, though.

Once he was finished, Harry yanked him off the wall and dragged him toward he axe. Ben tried to resist, as much as he could despite how weak he was from his injuries, but Harry, along with that invisible force, took his head and pushed him.

“No. No. No.” His heartbeat sped up, seeing death stare him in the face.

He heard someone growl and snarl in annoyance, one that was animalistic and sent chills down his spine, before his arm was slashed.

He cried out in pain, but he refused to give up. Harry's hands and that force left his head, making him hope that they both were giving up.

Unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case.

Harry pushed Ben's back with his feet. The axe impaled him by his eye, killing him instantaneously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters finished in one night! I'm making progress! Next one's completely original. You'll see what I mean when it gets posted tomorrow.


	13. Chapter Twelve: Circus For A Psycho

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Tonight get ready for a fight_  
>  _so now you know it's time to ride_  
>  _a circus for a psycho_  
>  _round and round we go_  
>  _look out below_  
>  _cause I want off this_  
>  _I want off this_  
>  "Circus For A Psycho" - Skillet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished this chapter the same night I finished the previous one! I was half-tempted to post both yesterday, but I'm going with my one chapter a day thing. Welcome to the break between murders! Originally, I was thinking of just going from the last chapter right into the next murder, but I wanted to have at least two chapters named after Skillet songs (considering my love of Rise. I still recommend listening to it straight through. It sounds cooler that way).
> 
> I tried to go for angsty, since Aline's reacting to the valentine she saw in "Be Mine 4Ever." Anyway, enjoy!
> 
> Songs mentioned aren't mine.

Aline was the one who drove the Impala back to the Thunderbird later on, Dean in the passenger seat and Sam & Tom in the back. They were listening to Aline's iPod through her speakers. Fortunately, she and Tom got back to the tunnel before the Winchesters did. She knew they could tell something was wrong, but neither of them brought it up. The words written on Axel's valentine rang in her head over and over again.

_ 'To Axel. Be Mine 4Ever. Love, Megan.' _

“Nothing went wrong, right?” she asked. “You didn't see him?”

“Nothing happened, actually,” Dean replied, understanding what she was trying to do. “He didn't even try stopping us from burning his bones. It was weird.”

“You'd think a guy like him would do everything he can to stop you from ending him.”

“But get this,” Sam added, leaning forward, “his grave was disturbed.”

“Of course it was,” Tom threw in. “He wasn't given the best burial, but it was better than what he really deserved.”

“That's not what I meant. You guys said he carried a pickaxe, right?” After getting confirmation from both cousins, Sam continued speaking. “That wasn't in his hand. The thing looked like somebody picked it up. Recently, too, if I had to guess.”

“Was there any blood on it?” Aline asked.

“Except for dried blood? Nothing. Still, this should stop most of the murders since the demon won't have a ghost helping it.”

Both cousins sighed in relief, but that didn't stop Megan's written words on that valentine from popping up in her mind over and over again. It came back to the forefront of her mind.

_ 'To Axel. Be Mine 4Ever. Love, Megan.' _

_ 'Axel. Be Mine 4Ever. Love, Megan.' _

_ 'Be Mine 4Ever. Love, Megan.' _

_ 'Be Mine 4Ever. Love' _

_ 'Be Mine 4Ever.' _

_ 'Megan.' _

That was when “Gollum's Song” from Two Towers began to play, catching her attention and pushing those words to the back of her mind.

__**** Where once was light, now darkness falls.  
Where once was love, love is no more.  
Don't say goodbye.  
Don't say I didn't try. 

Her hands clenched the steering wheel, the valentine popping up in her mind. She punched the steering wheel, her eyes flashing black for just a second as it did a lot lately. “Fucking hell!”

The other passengers jumped.

“What's wrong, Aline?” Sam questioned.

“I'd rather not talk about it.”

Tom leaned toward her since he was sitting directly behind her. “We should at the very least tell them about it,” he whispered. “We both know you're gonna have nightmares about it.”

She took a deep breath before telling Sam and Dean about what happened while they went to burn Harry's bones, Tom throwing in details here and there. She told them about the door opening, about the mysterious light in the woods, about the cabin and the valentine to Axel.

Everything.

“So, you're thinking this Megan girl's next on the demon's hit list?” Dean inquired.

“Yeah,” she replied. “I mean, she _is_ Axel's flavor of the week, and, besides us and Sarah, he's one of the survivors of the Valentine's Day massacre.”

Both brothers nodded. “Then we'll watch her, make sure nothing happens. Starting tomorrow night.”

She kept her eyes locked on the road, clenching her jaw in anger.

“That's not what's really bugging you, is it?”

Instead of answering the question, she turned up her music, signaling the end of the conversation. It was the first time she'd done something like that. Usually, it was Dean's thing when he didn't want to talk about what happened on a hunt whenever something went bad.

“A Pain That I'm Used To” by Depeche Mode had replaced “Gollum's Song” while they were talking.

“Axel doesn't deserve a girl like Sarah.” She was practically growling out the words under her breath. “He wanted her when he was dating Irene, and, now since he's married to her, he starts seeing another woman? Right when he has the woman he apparently wanted?”

Megan's voice kept popping up in her head, causing her to rub her head with her hand as she continued driving away from the mine.

“ _They found someone dead at the Thunderbird. There's cops everywhere. Have you talked to Axel?”_

She focused on driving and the song, not letting it get to her.

__**** All this running around,  
well, it's getting me down.  
Just give me a pain that I'm used to. 

* * *

**Song Inspiration:**


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Bloody Murder in the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Bessie, my love, you really should be more careful wearing your real diamonds out on the street. You never know whom you might encounter."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a POV switch after the first cut. From Sarah's to Dean's. Thought it would be better to do it that way instead of having it be completely Sarah's, since I wanted to at least show a little thing about Red Hood. See for yourself.

It was late the next night as Sarah began to close down the store. She and Megan were the only two working for the night. Megan was scrubbing the floors with a mop while she worried about breaking a nail while Sarah did stock counting. Sarah walked by Megan as she scrubbed the floor in front of the meat counter.

“Megan, honey, you can let that go,” Sarah said as she looked down at her clipboard. “Can you give me a hand please?” she asked. Megan placed the mop back in the bucket and followed Sarah. “Axel wants us to get out of here quick.”

Axel and the others had found Ben's heartless corpse in the middle of the woods earlier that afternoon. In her mind, he didn't deserve that. No one deserved that fate. She shook herself out of her thoughts.

“You're the boss,” Megan said. She began to stock the laundry detergent while Sarah scanned the rest of the shelves. “How did you ever end up with Axel if you were with Tom?” she asked.

Sarah froze for a moment. This was a delicate subject, one that Megan had no right talking about. At all. “It was Valentine's Day and...” Sarah trailed off, not wanting to tell the story again. But Megan just wasn't going to take no for an answer.

“Harry Warden killed everyone?” Megan asked, knowing that she got it right. “You were there? Was Tom? Was Aline?”

“Yeah,” Sarah replied. She felt tears in her eyes. “But Axel was the one who was there for me,” she said. She didn't believe it though. Tom and Aline were trying to fight off Harry and the other psycho for her. Axel was the one who decided to run and not face the monsters. So, in some ways, Axel was running as well.

“But...he's not anymore,” Megan said.

Sarah was about to say something when there was a noise. They both looked at the front of the building.

“Did you lock up the front?” Sarah asked.

“Yes,” Megan replied.

Sarah went to the front of the building to investigate. “Hello? The store's closed.” There was no one at the front door...but that's when they started hearing the noise from the back, another one following it. “Hello?” Sarah asked.

The two women began to investigate the store. They walked up and down the aisles, trying to find the source of the scraping noises.

Unknown to them, there were two other people in the grocery store.

There was the sound of something breaking. Both of them gasped loudly. Out of the corner of her eye, Sarah saw Megan quickly wrap her arm protectively around her stomach like a soon-to-be mother protecting her unborn child.

“Wait here,” Sarah told Megan, motioning for her to stay back. But Megan didn't want to stay by herself.

“Wait!” Megan yelled out, running after Sarah. “I'm kinda a pussy sometimes,” she told her.

Sarah smiled at her, though it was fake. “Welcome to the club,”she whispered. They walked to the frozen foods aisle and looked around.

They found nothing.

“There's nobody here, Sarah,” Megan said. That's when all the lights went out. Sarah and Megan both screamed. They were about ready to leave the store, to get as far away as possible, when a light landed on Sarah's shirt. She looked up to see a man in full miner's uniform standing there.

The repressed nightmares of long ago came back to her.

_The bloody hand grabbing her shirt and staining it._

_Axel trying to keep her from screaming._

_Tom and Aline being dragged one way while Sarah was dragged another._

They all came flooding back at once. Megan took off running, but Sarah was frozen. Harry approached Sarah. The anger that had been in every movement he made vanished as he stepped closer. He gently touched a worn, leather glove to Sarah's cheek.

Sarah didn't move. She was afraid to.

Megan then threw a frozen chicken at Harry. She took off running again, as did Sarah. Harry seemed mad, but not at Sarah for some strange reason.

Megan and Sarah screamed when Harry's light landed on Red Hood, looking like he walked straight out of the Batman comics. A weird looking knife was in his hand, and his eyes were completely black. Unlike Harry, he ignored Sarah and went right after Megan.

Sarah and Megan ran around him, followed by Harry.

Sarah slipped on the wet floor where Megan had been working and fell. She groaned as her head ricocheted off of the hard floor. Megan appeared moments later with the mop. She swung it at both Harry and Red Hood. Red Hood eventually flicked his wrist to the right, and the mop flew out of Megan's hands, breaking on the shelves.

Sarah grabbed Megan's hand.

“Come on, Megan!” Sarah yelled as she pulled her away. Harry kicked over a display of chocolate valentine's hearts, and both he and his partner began to follow them. They ran screaming through the backroom towards Sarah's father's old office. Sarah slammed the door shut and locked it. She and Megan slid the dusty old desk in front of it, trying to keep both murderers out. Harry swung the bloody axe at the flimsy door. Hard kicks by Red Hood joined them.

“Oh God!” Megan called out.

“Open the window!” Sarah yelled. Megan went to the window and tried to open it. The screen on the outside of the window was locked.

“Shit!” she yelled out. “It's locked!”

“The keys in the desk!”

Megan went to the drawer and found the keys. She went straight to work on unlocking the window and getting them out of there. That desk would only hold them for so long.

Sarah grabbed the phone on the desk and dialed the police.

“It's at Mercers grocery store!” Sarah cried. “It's Harry Warden and Red Hood and they're inside! Please help us! Please!” she begged. The phone line went dead. Sarah cursed and went to work holding the door while Megan worked on the window.

When she finally got the screen open and began to crawl out the window, Harry and Red Hood disappeared from the door. Both girls got silent.

“Oh shit!” Megan yelled out. Sarah had been holding onto Megan, helping her get out the window. She suddenly felt her being pulled from outside the window. Harry and Red Hood grabbed her and pulled her out. Sarah could hear Megan scream until it became eerily quiet.

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

Sam and Dean were sitting outside the grocery store in the Impala, Dean suggesting that they both take the first shift. Contrary to what Aline probably believed, Dean had heard what she said over the loud volume of her music on the way back from the mine the night before (despite the fact that she had murmured it under her breath) and had shared what she said with Sam once they were a minute away from Mercers.

They were armed and ready to exorcise the demon that was controlling Harry's ghost.

That was when he heard the sound of two girls screaming. Without looking at each other, they quickly climbed out and ran over to the entrance of the store, but it was locked. Sam was the one who decided that he'd pick the lock on the door, but another set of screams minutes after the first set started to really grate on Dean's patience.

“You're too slow, Sam,” he said angrily, causing his brother to stand up and shove what he was using in his pocket.

“Let's find another way in, then,” Sam suggested.

They searched every window, but they were all locked. Same with the doors. Suddenly, Sam pulled Dean behind a corner near another entrance (a door this time, locked from the inside. This one was close to a locked window that led into an office). The door opened, and they saw something that was completely impossible:

_Harry Warden was still alive._

Red Hood followed, demon blade clenched tightly in his gloved hand, but his posture was a bit relaxed. The two silently walked over to the window, where a pair of legs was hanging out.

Only one possible explanation came to Dean's mind: whoever was dressed up as Harry Warden was either a human or some other kind of monster.

Red Hood's posture immediately changed at the sight of those legs, switching to that of torturer, killer. It was the way Dean had seen many demons stand. Every single one he fought and either sent back to Hell or killed if their meatsuit was dead to begin with.

Both Harry and Red Hood grasped at a leg, pulling the person fully outside.

“Oh shit!” they heard a female voice yell out.

It was Megan.

Megan screamed as Harry carried her over to a pile of ripped cardboard boxes. Red Hood followed, but his eyes switched over to where Dean and Sam were hiding, locking those cold, anger-filled black eyes on Dean's. If it was possible, they softened and the anger disappeared.

That changed when Megan screamed in pain as Harry slashed her with Red Hood's demon blade. Red Hood whirled to face her, holding his hand out for the blade and taking his turn. When he was finished, Harry bashed his pickaxe into Megan's chest, right above her breasts, and dragged it down the middle, breaking her rib cage as he did so.

Megan continued screaming even after he was finished. Red Hood passed Harry his demon blade before Sam came out of the corner (waking up out of the shock since this was the second most brutal thing either of them had ever seen in their lives) and went to fight Red Hood, but he flicked his wrist, and Sam flew into the wall, hard.

Dean tried fighting him, but they were evenly matched, despite the fact that he wasn't the one Red Hood was angry with for some weird reason. Dean lost, and he ended up being thrown onto the wall next to Sam before both brothers were knocked unconscious.

Dean was the first to wake up, but both Harry and Red Hood were nowhere to be seen. His eyes locked on Megan's corpse (an opened heart-shaped box with her heart in it rested on her lap) for a few seconds before they drifted up to the words written in her own blood, freezing him to the core.

_'BE MINE 4 EVER'_

 

* * *

 

_ **Next time on** _ **Return to Harmony:**

 

_“We can't tell Tom and Aline,” he said._

_“We're telling them, Sam. End of discussion,” Dean replied._

**_See you guys, then._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it bad that I'm proud of myself for finishing three chapters yesterday? 'Cause that's what I did. This one was the first. As of right now, there's going to be 21 chapters in this. I wanted to have a chapter break in between murders. I've finished the next murder chapter, and I'm now working on chapter 16. It's almost finished though (3 pages so far). I have a plan for the rest of this fic. Once this is finished, I'll refocus on Sun Rise (I should be ashamed of myself in neglecting that one as much as I have). That quote in the summary is from "Murder, Murder." Hyde says it to Lady Beaconsfield when he's killing her.
> 
> After thinking about it, the title fits this chapter well.
> 
> Next chapter, there's gonna be a movie reference. If you get where it's from, you get a piece of virtual pie (or whatever dessert you like).


	15. Chapter Fourteen: I Am a Time Bomb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Winchesters face the fallout of Megan's murder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the chapter with the movie reference in it! If you get where it's from, you get a virtual piece of pie (or whatever dessert you like).
> 
> The title comes from "Time Bomb" by The Dismemberment Plan. I heard the song a number of years ago. The music video was on the Exhibition Demo Disk Volume 1 for the original XBox that also had the demos for the first Halo game (specifically, the Silent Cartographer level. My cousin and I had a lot of fun in that level), ToeJam & Earl III, Splinter Cell, Time Splitters 2, and other games. There were a bunch of demos, songs, and music videos on it, but "Time Bomb" & "Superpowers" (done by the same band) stuck out to me. So, the song has good memories for me, and I figured why not name a chapter after it? So, there you go.
> 
> Enjoy!

Dean woke Sam up and, after letting him see what was written above Megan's body, dragged him back to the Impala, driving back to the Thunderbird before the cops showed up. They both were quiet for ninety-percent of the ride until Sam spoke up.

“We can't tell Tom and Aline,” he said.

“We're telling them, Sam. End of discussion,” Dean replied.

“We can tell them we saw some guy dressed up as Harry. We can tell them we saw Red Hood. But what we saw above Megan's body...we can't tell them.”

“Why? Is this because of what I told you she said?”

“Yes! I hate to say this, Dean, but she was practically implying that she wanted Megan dead.”

“Aline was the one who suggested we make sure to keep an eye on Megan!”

“She didn't say that!”

“Yes, she did! She said that because Megan was the girl Axel was sleeping with.”

“But Sarah was her best friend, remember that? And she said Axel loved her even though she was with Tom, but Axel was cheating on her with Megan. Combined with what you said she said...” He trailed off, letting Dean put the pieces together.

“Alright! We won't tell them that.” Just then, his phone rang. He picked it up without checking to see who it was. “This is Agent Jay. What do you need?”

He heard someone familiar chuckle. _“Nice MIB reference there, Dean,” Aline responded. “Really brightened up my day. What's that make Sammy? Kay?”_

He smiled. “Nah. You're Kay. He's Tee.”

“Ha ha. Very funny,” Sam stated sarcastically.

“Why are you calling anyway? We're on our way back to the room.”

“ _Something happen?”_ she asked, immediately turning serious.

“Megan's dead. Harry ripped her heart out. Actually, some guy dressed up as Harry. Red Hood was there too.”

“ _Son of a bitch. So maybe the demon decided to work with a psycho killer who payed attention to the news.”_

“That's what we were thinkin'. You didn't answer my question, you know.”

“ _Tom and I are going to the hospital.”_

Dean was immediately on edge, fearing that either of them had gotten hurt. “Why? What happened?”

“ _Nothing's wrong. Neither of us are hurt. We just got off the phone with Sarah and found out that she's there. Just to make sure she's okay,”_ she reassured him. _“And, if she checked out, we're gonna show her what we found at the cabin. I'll call you when we're on our way there, okay?”_

“Okay. Watch your six for me. If you can't, make sure Tom does.”

“ _Hey. I've got everything I need on me in case something happens. Holy water, shotgun, rope, the exorcism tape, and cassette player.”_

He smirked at what he was about to say as he put the phone on speaker, semi-terrible Irish accent and all. “What are ya, insane?”

Sam rolled his eyes, but they both could hear the identical smirk in her voice as she answered him with an Irish accent that was better than his.

“ _No I ain't. Charlie Bronson's always got rope.”_

“What?”

“ _Yeah. He's got a lot of rope strapped around him in the movies, and they always end up using it.”_

“You've lost it, haven't ya?”

“ _No, I'm serious.”_

“Me too. That's stupid. Name one thing you gonna need a rope for.”

“ _You don't fuckin' know what you're gonna need it for. They just always need it.”_

“What's this 'they' shit? This isn't a movie.”

“ _Oh, right. Is that right, Rambo?”_

“All right. Get your stupid fuckin' rope.”

“ _I'll get my stupid rope. I'll get it.”_ All four of them (including Tom) laughed, the first time any of them had laughed since before they went to the bar a couple nights ago. After they calmed down, Aline said in her normal voice, _“See ya later, boys.”_

For some reason, Dean thought it would be the last time they'd talk to each other, but he shook that thought off. “See ya later, Ally.”

It sounded like she was gonna say something else, but she hung up.

He never liked keeping things from her. This was no exception.

The image of Red Hood's black eyes softening when they locked on his was stuck in Dean's mind the rest of the way back. One of his classic rock tapes played softly through the speakers.

“What's wrong? Besides the whole holding-back-info-from-our-best-friend thing?” Sam asked.

“He saw me, Sammy.”

“Who?”

“Red Hood. When we were in cover back at Mercers. Looked right at me. All that anger was just...gone. Like it wasn't even there. They softened. It was just for a few seconds, but it was there. I actually thought his eyes were gonna turn to his meatsuit's for a second, but he heard Megan scream and that anger was back, but it wasn't focused on me. It's weird, I know. But I'm not lying about this.”

“I believe you.”

“Ruby said all demons were human once before going to Hell. Maybe he saw something when he looked at me. I don't know. Let's just forget we even had this conversation, okay?”

Sam nodded, and Dean turned up his music, blocking out every thought related to Red Hood and the softness he saw in those soulless black eyes.


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Murder, Murder Makes Your Blood Pump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"General Glossop, I'm happy to inform you that you are relieved of your duties. All of them."_

In a car in front of Palmer's house, a policewoman took a daily paper to read it. Meanwhile, in the house, a little boy watched TV. It was Noah. Rosa, the woman who took care of the house when Sarah and Axel were at work, came.

“Noah, I'm just taking the garbage out,” she stated.

The boy didn't react, he was too occupied by the TV. Rosa came back some seconds later.

However, just after her, Harry Warden and Red Hood got in.

Noah didn't notice it or the fact the killers had seen him. In the laundry room, Rosa was putting clothes in the dryer. Hearing the door opening and thinking it was Noah, she spoke. “Is your cartoon over already?”

However she didn't get an answer, so she turned around. When she saw the miner and the masked vigilante, she screamed but not too long for both Harry and Red Hood killed her with their weapons. Then they came back in the living room, but they discovered Noah had disappeared.

Meanwhile, in the car, the policewoman (Deputy Ferris) finished reading the paper when suddenly Burke appeared at her window. She jumped then opened the door in order to get out. She saw the ex-sheriff with a gun.

“They're here,” he said, “inside the house. Come on.”

Ferris took her gun and walked, the old man following her. With fear, they stopped in front of the door. Ferris started to move her hand in order to open the door, but she stopped and looked at the former sheriff. “You want to take point?” she asked.

For a moment, Burke thought then he gave his reply. “I'm retired.”

So Ferris opened the door and walked in. But Burke didn't follow her. While he heard two noises, Ferris went to the living room and turned off the TV. Then she heard a strange noise and immediately raised her gun, senses on high alert. Suddenly, she turned around and saw Noah get out of his hiding place. She sighed, relieved.

“Noah. I want you to duck down,” she whispered. “Stay hidden, okay? Don't come out until I come and get you, no matter what.”

Meanwhile, Burke went to the house's side and saw a light. He thought it was the light from a miner helmet and moved closer. Then he bent over a little to see behind the little to see behind the little wall and saw the helmet was put on a garbage can. He turned around, but he didn't see anything.

Ferris continued to walk in the house to see where the noise was from. She entered the laundry room and saw a lot of blood on the tumble-dryer. Her heart beating faster, she came closer and opened the door. Rosa's burnt corpse appeared. She screamed.

The ex-sheriff heard her and turned around. However the killers were here, and Harry planted his axe in his jaw while Red Hood slashed his arm with the weird looking knife. Burke screamed and held the pickaxe. Then Harry forcefully ripped his axe away, and a part of Burke's jaw was ripped off. His body rolled on the little wall and fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you've probably noticed, I changed the final chapter number to 22. This is because I wanted part of the big reveal chapter (not the flashback chapter, but the one before it where you find out the truth) to be it's own thing. Plus, there's going to be one more Warden & Red Hood attack chapter. I think the titles I picked are perfect for them. Also, tomorrow's update's gonna be the last for probably a day because I'm gonna be going to Chuck E. Cheese tomorrow night and then I'm gonna spend the night at a friend's house. As far as I know, I'm going to be coming back sometime this Tuesday. Maybe in the afternoon. So, I won't be able to work on chapter 19 (the POVs are split again. It's the same as "Bloody Murder in the Night," though). It's two pages so far.
> 
> Just like "Bloody Murder in the Night," the line is from "Murder, Murder." Hyde says it to General Lord Glossop (I don't know if I'm spelling his name right or not, but I don't really care right now).


	17. Chapter Sixteen: I Can't Be That Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Aline try to tell Sarah the truth, but...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The part before the first cut takes place before "I Am A Time Bomb," and the parts after take place right after it. Part one of the reveal chapters are finished and ready to be posted! But it probably won't be posted until Wednesday, while the next chapter won't be up until tomorrow night. Enjoy!

In a dark and deserted street, Tom stopped his car. Aline was sitting in the passenger seat. Suddenly, a siren was heard, and they both turned around to see a police car pass.

Aline couldn't help feeling that there was something going on, which was why the idea she and Tom came up with fixed that problem. All they had to do was get Sarah and the boys to believe them.

Tom took out his phone and dialed a number. Then he called it, putting it on speaker so his cousin could hear.

“ _Hello?”_ Sarah answered.

“Sarah, it's us. Where are you?” Tom questioned.

“ _I'm at the hospital.”_

Aline opened her eyes wide, feeling shock. Sarah was at the hospital? “What happened?” she asked, worried. “Are you okay?”

Sarah started to cry softly. _“You both were right. Harry Warden's back, and Red Hood was there, too. Harry touched me, and they killed Megan. I got away.”_

Aline felt her heart beat faster.

“Did you see either of their faces?” Tom inquired.

“ _No, just the masks. I did see Red Hood's eyes. They were black. Completely black.”_

Both cousins looked at each other. The time to reveal their idea had come. They'd had an argument over who would tell it to Sarah, but it was settled.

“Sarah, I don't think it's Harry.”

“ _What are you saying?”_

“Do you trust us?”

“ _Tom—”_

“Do you trust us?” Aline repeated seriously.

“ _Yes, I trust you. I trust both of you.”_

Aline immediately felt relieved to hear that answer, even after ten years of separation.

“Okay, good,” Tom replied. “There's something we have to show you.”

“ _Guys, I have to get back to Noah.”_

“That's fine. We'll take you to him. But we gotta show you something along the way.”

Aline turned around to see if they were still alone, which, lucky for them, they were.

“ _Okay.”_

“Just wait there for us, okay? I'll pick you up, promise.”

The three of them said their goodbyes, and Tom hung up the phone, driving away.

“Do you think she'll believe us?” Aline asked.

“She trusts us, Batgirl. As soon as we show her Axel's cabin, she'll believe us for sure.”

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

Tom's truck was speeding down the back roads leading towards the mines. Aline was sandwiched in between Tom and Sarah.

_All that's missing is the cherry Pepsi,_ Aline though humorlessly.

As she promised, she'd called Dean the moment they pulled up to the hospital (also mentioning her's and Tom's suggestion of who exactly was this new Harry Warden. They'd believed her), and he said that he and Sam would meet them up there in a few minutes.

Besides that call, neither Tom nor Aline hadn't said one thing since they left the hospital, but Aline kept one hand wrapped around Sarah's.

“It took me ten years to get that damn mask out of my head...and just like that, it's back along with another,” Sarah said.

Aline cast a quick look over at her before looking back at the road. “You know Axel owns land up here?” she asked as she pointed further up the road. She saw Sarah look at her out of the corner of her eye, a grateful look in her eyes.

“Yeah, it's his dad's old place.”

“Been there lately?”

“What are you saying?”

“We're saying that we both think he's responsible for what's going on in town,” Tom threw in. “Him and a buddy of his from out of town. The murders.”

“No,” she whispered. That's when Sarah's phone rang. Both cousins looked over at it.

“Don't answer that,” both Tom and Aline said in unison.

Aline couldn't see who it was that was calling Sarah, but she really didn't want Sarah to answer her phone for once.

But she answered it, putting it against her right ear so that Aline couldn't hear who she was talking to.

“Hello?” she asked.

A few minutes passed as the person on the other line answered her.

“Yes,” Sarah whispered, catching Aline's and Tom's attention.

“Who is that?” Aline asked.

Sarah looked at her, giving her that 'I'm so sorry' look before she turned her attention back to the phone. “I'm not sure if I know what you mean.”

That was the moment Aline could really sense Sarah's fear, despite the fact she was trying to sound calm.

Sarah glanced between Tom and Aline for a brief moment, flinching away from Aline's grip on her hand.

“Who is it?” Tom asked this time, but Sarah turned away from them. Aline looked over at Tom, her heart pounding in her chest. That same feeling of worry she felt was in Tom's eyes.

“Noah...is he...” Sarah sounded like she was a few minutes away from panicking.

Aline tried taking her hand to calm her down, but Sarah moved her hand away, probably without even realizing it.

_She thinks we're the killers,_ Aline realized, looking over at Tom. His jaw was clenched, revealing he'd reached the same conclusion she had.

“Um...thanks for checking up on us, Mom. Tell Dad I love him,” Sarah said before she cut the connection. “I need to get home. My mom said that Noah's not feeling too good.”

Both cousins looked over at her with identical all-knowing looks in their eyes.

“That wasn't your mom,” Tom said.

“I need to get home to my son.”

“Don't you trust us?”

“Take me home,” Sarah demanded.

Aline slammed her hand on the dash. “Damn it, Sarah! We need you to understand,” Aline snapped at her.

“You're one of the only people we can trust!” Tom added. “Axel wants you to think that it's us, but it's not. Okay?”

Aline felt her eyes build up with tears. “I don't kill people! I save 'em! It's in my job description! I'm not a killer!  _We're_ not killers! I can't be that thing! Neither of us can!”

Tom grabbed her hand, rubbing his thumb on it to sooth her. “We don't think you know what he's capable of.”

For the second time that ride, Sarah gave them that 'I'm so sorry' look before grabbing the steering wheel and turning it so they drove off the road, crashing into a tree.

The last thing she saw was the branch breaking the windshield before her head hit the dash, knocking her unconscious.

She didn't know how much time had past when Tom shook her awake, but she was hurting. Bad. She unbuckled and rolled out the open passenger side door while Tom fell out of the driver's side. They both screamed in pain, which echoed loud in the night air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *le gasp* Car crash? Like I said, I'm doing this word for word from the movie. If you haven't already seen the movie, I advise you turn back before it's spoiled for you even further. There will be one more warning after this at the end of the next chapter. I know, it's probably too late to turn back now, especially with how far I've gone to spoiling the plot rotten. I should've warned you, but it's too late for that, too.


	18. Chapter Seventeen: Where Once Was Light...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Axel wants you to think that it's us, but it's not, okay? I don't think you know what he's capable of._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is your last warning to retreat if you plan on watching MBV because part one of the reveal chapters comes tomorrow, and the dialogue is word for word from the movie, just with Aline, Dean, and Sam thrown into the mix.

Dean paced while Sam sat on the bed, reading Axel's valentine. It had been an hour since Aline called them from the hospital parking lot and told them who she and Tom thought was disguising himself as Harry and Red Hood. Now the two of them were in Axel's cabin, where she promised she, Tom, and Sarah would be. It had taken ten minutes for them to park the Impala and fifteen to walk up to the cabin, all in the silence of the night.

The only weapons they had on them were holy water and pocket knives.

Dean could see in his brother's eyes that he clearly did not believe the suggestion, but he had made no moves to point out the flaws the moment it was suggested. Even on the drive there, Sam had been silent, which was somewhat normal for him. But not talking for this long?

“They should've been here by now,” Dean stated, breaking the silence.

Sam shrugged, setting the card back on the candy box. “Maybe it's a longer drive from the hospital to here, considering the closest we've ever come to this place was Harry's grave,” he replied.

That was when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Dean quickly pulled it out and saw who it was from. He felt completely relieved.

“It's from Aline.”

He opened the text and the words hit him like a truck, his heart stopping.

_'We tried telling Sarah, but Axel called her first. Ran into a tree branch a few miles away from the mine. Sarah's gone. Tell u mre later.'_

Dean quickly responded. _'U two hang on. Sammy & I are coming to pick you up and take you to the hospital.'_

She responded right away. _'NO! Not the hospital! We gotta stop Axel and his buddy before they get to Sarah! Just pick us up and take us to tunnel 5. Please Dean.'_

He sighed. _'Fine. We'll be there in ten.'_ Dean started to leave.

“Wait a second! Where are you going?” Sam asked, standing up.

“Tom's truck crashed into a tree on the way here. Now, Sarah's gone, and the four of us are gonna stop Axel and his pal from killing Sarah.” He walked out the door, Sam following behind closely.

“You believe her.” It wasn't a question, and they both knew it.

“Yeah, I do. And you don't? We've been friends with her for almost three years now, Sam. I think that if something was going on with her, we'd be the first to find out.”

“One of the first ones. Maybe second.”

That made Dean stop walking and turn to face his younger brother. “What the hell's that supposed to mean?”

“She's barely talked about her past, and now she's decided to come here, to a place that she says was a big part of her childhood? The only things we know about her, I'm talking about basic stuff, are her parents died when she was ten, and she was almost raped by a man who was supposed to be her father while he was drunk. Other than that? Nothing! There's something she's not telling us, Dean.”

“Maybe she doesn't talk about her childhood because something extremely bad happened to her that traumatized her for life! Get to the point, Sam. Why would we be the second ones to know if something was going on with her? She trusts us. Who would be the first then?”

“Tom. She's told him about every hunt we've been on without leaving anything out. Via text message. So, there's a possibility that they're wrong.”

Dean just shook his head and clenched his jaw, resuming his walk to the Impala. “Let's just stop talking about this right now, okay? Let's focus on saving Sarah and then we'll confront her about this stuff as soon as we get outta this town.”

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

Sarah kept on running, even though she was tired. Fear was more important than tiredness. So when she saw the old cabin, she got in without thinking after opening the door. She hoped she could find something in order to defend herself. Then she pushed a cabinet in order to block the door. She moved away and, after looking at everything, she saw the bed and the opened box on the bed. She was intrigued and came closer, forgetting for a moment the danger she was currently in. She crouched and raised a hand towards the box. She took the card, which was on the box, and opened it to read.

It was the card Megan got for Axel, her signature signed underneath _'Be Mine 4 Ever.'_

She felt tears in her eyes, the memory of seeing her dead body and those same four words written in her blood above it flashing before her eyes. But she ignored them, it wasn't the moment to cry.

Her eyes fell on the box, and she lifted the lid and put it beside the box. Her heart beat faster when she saw the picture of her, Tom, and Aline that Irene had taken. The image of Axel holding this picture suddenly came back in her mind, followed by Tom's words.

_ Axel wants you to think that it's us, but it's not, okay? I don't think you know what he's capable of. _

Sarah stood up, panicking, and ran into the kitchen. She started to search for a weapon among the plates, which were on a piece of furniture and found a knife. But it was a small one and so she put it down and searched in a cabinet above it.

Nothing.

She went to another one. When she opened the door, plenty of heart-shaped boxes fell. Sarah breathed faster, totally panicked.

_ Now, she wasn't sure who to believe. _

A door suddenly opened. Sarah heard it and stopped breathing, her heart beating faster than before. The door totally opened to let her see the killers. Sarah recognized one immediately because of his loud breath. For a moment, she didn't move, afraid, then she turned around to face them. Those soulless black eyes stared right at her, and the miner beside him tilted his head, looking at her.

“Axel,” Sarah said.

The miner suddenly raised his axe, but Sarah avoided it. The axe went in the wood. The miner tried to get it out, but Sarah tried to stop him. However, Red Hood pushed her, slicing her arm through her shirt sleeve with his weird looking knife.

Sarah took advantage of the distraction and ran. The front door was in her sights...

...but it was blocked by the cabinet.

She hit it several times before seeing a window and running towards that. But there were planks, so she took a crowbar and used it to try to yank down the planks, throwing each plank at Red Hood.

But Red Hood just swatted them away, but Sarah broke the glass before he could even move toward her.

Downstairs, the miner succeeded in getting his axe back and stalked up the stairs when he heard the sound of glass breaking.

Sarah threw the crowbar at the both of them and jumped out the window, but Red Hood made it fly to the right with a flick of his hand.

She rolled on the roof of the porch and fell. Her phone fell too, but she ignored it, especially when she saw both killers by the window. She started to run again, terrified.

Neither of them wanted to give up and followed her walking, as if they both knew they were going to catch her even if she was running.

Sarah panted, exhausted, but she continued to run towards the mine. Several times, she almost fell but she continued and arrived in some kind of a warehouse. She tried to open a door, but it was locked. She tried desperately to open it when she saw the killers' shadows move closer. So she gave up and ran again.

She eventually found a door which she opened and got in, quickly noticing she was in the locker room. A lot of miner gear was hanging up. She turned around trying to see if the killers were here when a cloth fell. She yelled and moved away, wanting so desperately that all of this would end. She just wanted to be home with her son.

When a lot of the miner gear started to fall one after the other, she thought she lost her mind, she was going crazy. She didn't know where she could go anymore.

Suddenly, the miner and Red Hood appeared.

Sarah screamed and ran. She was so exhausted, but the fear was stronger, it pushed her to run for her life. When she saw she went to a tunnel, she took a light before going in. She forgot about her fear of this place. She continued to run then went to the right. They followed her. Sarah finally stopped and watched. She saw a shadow and went to hide before turning off the light.

“Shit,” she murmured. When she heard someone approach and a light, she prepared herself to attack. So, when the person was close enough, she attacked.

 

* * *

 

_ ** Next time on  ** _ ** Return to Harmony:  
**

_“Yeah, just shoot all three of us. Do it. Come on, it's your only choice. If you just shoot me, Sarah, you'd still be down here with killers.”_

**_See you guys, then._ **

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title for this (and the next) chapter comes from "Gollum's Song" from LOTR: The Two Towers. I thought the names fit each one, considering the next chapter is the first part of the big reveal.


	19. Chapter Eighteen: ...Now Darkness Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth comes to light...

Dean, Sam, Tom, and Aline ran into tunnel 5 the moment it was in sight. Aline and Tom were in front, and the Winchesters were behind them. Aline couldn't focus on anything besides saving Sarah from Axel. Not even the fact that Dean was running behind her could distract her from her mission.

It was time to put this nightmare to rest once and for all.

Ten minutes passed before they were close enough to hear Axel say, “Sarah, I've been working the past 72 hours. When would I have time to play psycho?”

“You're the sheriff, Axel,” Aline yelled, slowing down to a walking speed.

“I mean, you come and go as you please,” Tom pointed out the moment they were close enough. Both Palmers (as much as she was reluctant to admit that fact) were staring right at them. Sarah had a gun aimed at the two of them, looking so lost and confused.

“All right, Tom, Ally, stay back,” Sarah ordered.

“It's okay, Sarah.”

“All right,” Axel stated, the three of them moving toward Sarah.

“You three, stop fucking moving!” Sarah shouted.

“Sarah, look at me. Shoot them, and they won't move.”

Both cousins looked at him like he was crazy. “What?” Aline asked. “Axel, we're gonna get you help.”

“You're both so full of shit!” Axel yelled. “Sarah, stop it. You don't fucking believe these two?”

“Axel, I know you hate Aline and me, and neither of us really give a shit, but this is your _wife_. Stop lying to her!” Tom yelled.

“Shut up! They're crazy! He was in an institution, and she's been in every state, leaving dead bodies in her wake. Those two too. All three of 'em are wanted by the FBI.” Axel motioned toward Tom, Aline, Dean, and Sam as he spoke.

“Oh, that's real nice. Nice try,” Aline stated sarcastically, a small grin on her face as she and Tom stared down Axel.

The gun in Sarah's hands kept moving between the cousins and Axel before settling on the cousins.

Axel sighed, breaking eye contact to look at his wife. “Fuck it. Just shoot all three of us.”

A million thoughts ran through her mind at once, each one disappearing faster than she could even blink.

Aline and Tom looked over at Sarah.

“What?” Sarah asked, surprised.

“What?” both cousins asked in unison, looking back at Axel.

“Yeah, just shoot all three of us. Do it. Come on, it's your only choice. If you just shoot me, Sarah, you'd still be down here with killers,” Axel stated.

Dean, who had been silently standing behind the two cousins with Sam, spoke up, “What are you talking about?” Disbelief was clear in his voice.

It was at that point that Dean and Sam moved out to stand on Aline's left (Dean was closer to her while Sam was closer to Sarah).

“Sarah, don't listen to Axel,” Aline stated.

“Sarah, do it,” Axel said.

“He needs help, Sarah,” Tom pointed out.

“Do it. You have to do it, Sarah. Shoot us!”

“Nobody's shooting anyone, Axel.”

“Shoot us!”

“Sarah, listen to me!” Aline shouted.

“Will you stop it?” Sarah begged, moving the gun quickly between the three of them.

That was when Aline decided to reveal what her and Tom knew. “No, listen to me! The words that Megan wrote in her valentine, 'Be mine forever'? Those are the same words written in blood above her dead body.”

“Isn't that right, Axel?” Tom asked.

“I'm gonna rip your fucking heads off,” he said.

Aline and Tom shook their heads.

“How did you two know that Megan was dead?” Sarah asked, keeping the gun aimed Axel.

Aline and Tom looked over at Sarah, blinking once. The answer to that was obvious.

“You told me,” Tom answered.

“Sam and Dean told me on the phone,” Aline answered.

There was a tense silence until Sam said, “We didn't tell you, Ally.”

Sarah aimed the gun at Aline and Tom, shaking her head. “I didn't, either,” she stated.

_Fear._

Aline's eyes moved from the gun to Sarah's face, her heart keeping it's steady beat despite the fact that her best girlfriend was aiming a gun right at her.

“And how'd you two know about the words written on the wall?” Sarah's voice was shaking, heartbreak shining in her eyes clear as day as well as the clear buildup of tears. She cocked the gun, the sound echoing in the otherwise empty mine.

Aline glanced over at Axel for a brief moment before looking over at the brothers. That same heartbreak was clear in Dean's eyes. Sam wouldn't even look at her.

_Confusion._

She and Tom looked at each other before looking back at Sarah.

“Sarah...” Tom whispered.

A few seconds later was when she heard two sets of footsteps echoing in the tunnel.

“What is that?” she asked, her voice shaking in fear.

The owners of those footsteps turned the corner, clenching their weapons of choice tightly in their gloved hands.

“It's them,” Tom said, panicking. “It's Harry and Red Hood.”

She desperately searched for her gun without looking away from the two killers, but she mentally cursed, remembering she'd left it in the Impala. Same with her exorcism tape and the cassette player. Far as she knew, the meatsuit the demon was possessing was either alive or dead, almost dead was also likely.

They kept walking toward them, Harry aiming for Tom and Red Hood aiming for her. Sarah, Axel, Sam, and Dean looked right at the two murderers, but they looked right back at the cousins, looks of disbelief and sadness on their faces.

“It's fucking them. It's—”

Aline grabbed Tom's hand, clasping it tightly.

“It's Harry and Red Hood, Sarah. Dean, you gotta shoot them,” Aline begged, her eyes widening as they came closer.

“Guys! They're right there. Shoot 'em!”

No one did a thing besides glance between the two advancing killers and her and Tom like they were seeing things that weren't really there.

“It's them, Sarah. You gotta shoot 'em.”

Harry and Red Hood stalked closer to Sarah.

“Dean, Sammy, if you don't shoot 'em, I'll take one of your guns and do it myself. There they are. They're right there.” She was absolutely serious about that, but still neither of them did anything to stop them from coming closer.

“Shoot them! What are you three doing? Shoot them. They're right there!” Tom was starting to raise his voice as they looked right at Harry and Red Hood before looking back at the cousins. Fear was seeping into his voice each time Sarah, Dean, or Sam didn't try to stop the two killers.

Sarah had a fearful look on her face, but she wasn't doing anything.

“Sarah, Dean, Sammy! Shoot them! They're right there!” Aline shouted.

Sarah said something, but Aline could barely hear her over the sound of her rapidly beating heart.

“They're right there! Shoot them!” both Tom and Aline shouted in unison.

Still nobody did a thing.

“Screw it!” Aline shouted and went to try to grab Dean's gun, but Sam pushed her away.

“There's nobody else here!” he said.

“Yes there is! Harry and Red Hood are coming towards me and Tom! You two aren't doing a damn thing to stop him! So give me the gun!”

“No! You'll shoot Sarah!”

“No, I won't! I don't plan on missing them, now give me the damn gun!”

“No, Aline!”

“Either give me the fucking gun or shoot them now! You gotta shoot them now! Shoot them!”

She didn't see the sad look in the younger Winchester's eyes (or even Dean's) before quickly looking back at Harry and Red Hood as they walked right past Sarah, then Sam.

“Sammy, he's right there! Shoot them!”

One step closer.

“Sarah! Shoot them!” Tom shouted.

Two steps closer.

“They're right there! Shoot 'em now!” they both shouted.

Three steps closer.

“Sarah, Dean, Sam, shoot them! Shoot them, shoot them.”

Red Hood was standing right in front of her, his black eyes staring directly into her blue ones. Those black eyes flicked to ones that were a familiar shade as she stared right he was, still keeping her hand clasped tightly in Tom's.

“They're right here,” they whispered. “They're right—They're right—”Nothing and no one else was there, and those three words the two of them kept whispering echoed in her mind.

“ _ _T__ _hey're right here. They're right here. They're right here. They're right here. They're right here.”_


	20. Chapter Nineteen: An Axe To Grind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth...

__

_She and Tom had gone to Harry's grave the day the four of them arrived in Harmony. She didn't remember the visit, but she was now seeing it through her eyes and in her body. Hell, she didn't even know_ how  _they knew where the grave was, especially since they didn't know about it until Ben and Sheriff Burke showed them after Red's murder. Tom was digging up the grave, but he didn't seem like himself._

_She felt different as well, but she couldn't quite put her finger on how. All she knew was she didn't feel at all human._

_That was when a memory flashed before her eyes. Apparently, before going to visit Ben, Tom had, after talking with Dean and Sam, taken her for a small walk to calm her down a bit more after her freakout._

_The memory flashed to a different one. This time, she was standing in the bathroom in her's, Dean's, and Sam's motel room, hands resting on either side of the sink. She guessed it was late at night since she could hear Sam's snores. It sounded far away, though. As she stared at her reflection, she saw that her body was covered by the Red Hood costume and her eyes were black. Then, her reflection's head rapidly shook until it was covered by the mask._

_Her jaw clenched tightly, and she shut her eyes, her words to Sarah earlier echoing in her head._

“I don't kill people! I save 'em! It's in my job description! I'm not a killer!”

**Denial.**

_The word popped unbidden in her head. She didn't understand why. No way in hell was she the Red Hood._

_When she opened her eyes again, she saw she was in her pajamas and her eyes were blue._

_The scene then switched to an outside view of the Thunderbird. She was standing a few feet away from Irene's room, watching Harry and Red Hood walk outside. Harry's axe was dragging on the pavement._

_It then changed to Harry writing 'Be Mine 4 Ever' above Megan's corpse in blood, finishing with the heart. Red Hood was standing beside him, watching him._

_The image switched back to Harry's grave, and Tom was reaching for something out of Harry's grave. That was when she realized she was holding something in her hand. It was made out of some kind of fabric, that she was certain, but she couldn't look to see what it was._

_Aline found herself in Ben's house, walking out of his living room. She felt like she couldn't breath. She fell onto her knees, eyes locking on the floor._

_Tom's hand grabbing the pickaxe back at Harry's grave brought her back to that scene, slowly lifting it up._

_She didn't know where she was when the scene changed this time, but she was staring at the pavement, on her knees like she was at Ben's. She lifted her head and found herself staring right at an unconscious Dean. His head was tilted to the side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry's helmet._

_Just then, her head collided with something metal, but she felt something covering her head._

_Something metal._

_Dean was gone, replaced by a view of the cage she and Tom had been locked in thanks to Harry._

Confusion.

_She could barely breath. Her hands reached up to pull the mask off, beginning the struggle. Ben's house returned around her, hearing another mask clatter to the ground._

_The scene around her switched to outside the Thunderbird. She was still on her knees, and she was successful in yanking the mask off her face. She let it fall to the pavement, but she still couldn't breathe. That was when she felt another mask covering her face. Hell, it covered a majority of her face except for her eyes. It was almost like a ski mask._

_Why couldn't she feel this before? Maybe adrenaline? But from what? None of what she was seeing was making a lick of sense._

_There was another scenery switch, like she was surrounded by a slideshow. This time, she was staring at Dean's unconscious body. She started pulling the black mask off her head as she gasped for breath, her sight becoming obstructed by black fabric._

_When it was finally off, she was on her hands and knees in Ben's house, panting heavily. She could hear Tom panting beside her._

_Aline's eyes were now locked on concrete pavement, signaling she was back in front of Dean. She looked up at him, a snarl on her face. Those words Megan wrote on her valentine echoed in her mind, making her eyes flick black._

'Be Mine 4 Ever.'

_Blackness obscured her vision again, and her hand grasped the edge of whatever was covering her face and yanked it off, eyes locking on the starry sky as she gasped for breath._

_She found herself back at Harry's grave, Tom raising Harry's pickaxe to eye-level. He turned it around, making the leaf that was attached to it fall to the ground._

_Once again, she found herself in the mine. The bloodied demon knife was clutched tightly in her hand, and she watched the pickaxe jam the lock so neither of them could get out. She pulled out her gun and shot the empty air next to Red's corpse twice in two different locations before looking next to her._

Realization.

_Tom was in the mining costume, the same one she saw Harry wore that day. His eyes were cold as they stared over at Red's body. She smirked at him once he locked his eyes on hers, letting her eyes flick black. He smirked back._

_The scene switched to Harry's grave again, except Tom was picking up Harry's mask. He lifted it up and held it inches away from his face._

_She smirked, crossing her arms over her chest. “So, now that you've seen it, what do you say to you and me having a little fun, Tommy?” she asked. She could hear the gravel from one month in Hell and years of suffering on Earth in her voice..._

_...and she didn't feel repulsed by it as much as she knew she should've been. It_ was  _her demon side, after all._

_Tom didn't even look at her, instead keeping his eyes on the mask. “What kind of fun we talkin'?” he inquired. His voice sounded darker as well from ten years of reliving the nightmare caused by the original owner of the mask over and over again._

“ _Hunting people, killin' things...taking revenge for what they did to you, to us, a decade ago. Blamin' you for the explosion. We let them think he's alive...”_

“ _When it's really us that's doing it. Don't you think Axel will put the pieces together?”_

“ _Course he would, but we just put the blame on him. Hell, he wanted to take Sarah from you, remember?”_

“ _We would know, though.”_

_Aline rolled her eyes, letting them flick black. “Please. I've been locked beneath my human side for years. When's the next time I'm gonna be able to do shit like this? Thirty years from now, maybe? Besides, it's payback time. What do you say? You in or am I doing this on my own?”_

_Tom finally looked over at her, his eyes darker than before. “What if I say yes? Will I technically be selling my soul? And would I still remember?”_

_She cocked an eyebrow. “You really think that, since you're talking to demon me, I'll let you sell your soul just to get some revenge? Besides, I'm not a frickin' crossroads demon. And you're never gonna remember this. I won't remember this until Hell. The only way we'll remember this stuff is if someone points out a mistake. Easy as that.”_

_Tom glanced between the mask and Aline._

“ _Costume-wise, you'll be Harry, and I'll be Red Hood. Sammy, Dean, and I were gonna go trick-or-treating last year, but a hunt happened, so I wasn't able to use the costume. Neither of them saw it, so we've got all our bases covered.” She held up the fabric mask for him to see. “I'll even keep my eyes this way the whole time so no one will suspect a thing.”_

_It only took Tom a few moments to reach a decision, and he gave her a quick peck on the lips._

“ _Let's get started,” he said with a smirk._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a while to figure out how exactly I wanted this to be done. I mean, I flip-flopped between wanting to have Aline watch the unmasking or the way you see I did it. I'm actually pretty happy with how it came out! I started writing this out Friday night. I had to rewatch the whole flashback scene from the movie (it plays my number one favorite song on the entire OST, plus loads of Jensen) and try to put it into words. I hope I did it justice while adding Aline into it (also, I was listening to "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling & Lzzy Hale while writing that conversation between Tom and Aline at the end there). Hope you liked it!
> 
> Two more chapters left, guys! To those of you who added this to your subscriptions list, thanks! To those of you who left kudos, thank you as well! I'll make sure to buckle down this week and write chapter 20. Also, I've been posting this fic on my Tumblr account (bowties-scarves-and-impalas). It's tagged "return to harmony." See ya next chapter!


	21. Chapter Twenty: Madness In Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Winchesters come face to face with an Aline they didn't know existed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final count: six pages.
> 
> I really hope I did the beginning of this scene justice (this chapter follows Dean and Sam for the majority of it). Enjoy!

Dean felt his heart shatter in his chest at Aline's and Tom's wide-eyed gazes filled with fear as they stared and pointed at the empty air in front of them. Everything except for their pleas for him, Sarah, and Sam to _just shoot them! They're right there!_ was silent. Sarah's reassuring statements of saying that no one else was there with them fell on deaf ears.

He would've handed her the gun or at least attempted to shoot the person if they were there.

Those thoughts ran through his mind as he watched the cousins' panicked expressions and mumbles ( _“ _T__ _hey're right here. They're right here. They're right here. They're right here. They're right here.”_ _)_ switch to expressionless masks, the fear disappearing before his eyes. Both of their heads lowered and their eyes closed.

No sound was heard except for Sarah's panicked breathing.

Sam's words from earlier that night played in his mind, reminding him of something he already knew.

_“She's barely talked about her past, and now she's decided to come here, to a place that she says was a big part of her childhood? The only things we know about her, I'm talking about basic stuff, are her parents died when she was ten, and she was almost raped by a man who was supposed to be her father while he was drunk. Other than that? Nothing! There's something she's not telling us, Dean.”_

They barely knew her, even after hunting with her for the past three years. That never mattered to him, though. She'd saved their asses plenty enough times to earn some privacy when it comes to what happened before she met them.

That didn't stop him from remembering that flicker of recognition he saw in her eyes that night three years ago. Clearly, she'd heard his name before meeting that shifter version of himself.

He always figured she'd talk about it when she was ready to.

The sound of the cousins gasping yanked him out of his thoughts. Aline didn't even look his way, but her eyes seemed a bit unfocused, like she was trying to figure out where she was.

“Harry and Red Hood aren't here,” Sarah said.

Axel shook his head. “Oh, they're here. Aren't you, Harry and Red Hood? You been living inside Tom and Aline?” he asked.

That was when Aline's eyes darkened and focused, and both cousins lifted and turned their heads to face Axel in unison. Aline's posture oozed danger, torturer, killer.

“Oh, I'm right here,” Tom replied, his voice darker than before.

“I was so sure you wouldn't figure it out, Palmer. Hell, I would've bet my soul on it,” Aline threw in, her own voice sounding gravelly but still sexy in Dean's mind.

Axel's face paled and his eyes widened. “What the hell are you?”

“You tell me since you're so damn smart.”

“Aline?” Dean questioned.

She turned her head to look his way, but her eyes were a darker shade of blue and she smirked at him, her eyes flicking black for two seconds. That smirk sent chills down his spine.

“Hey Dean, Sammy.”

Dean immediately pulled his gun out of the back of his jeans. “Get the hell outta her, you son of a bitch.”

'Aline' chuckled. “It's funny that you think I'm not really me. Baby, there's no one else up here but me. And human me, of course. She's freakin' out about the whole thing. I'm callin' it my last hoorah before going down to the Pit with you. 'Cause we're in this together, aren't we, Dean-o?”

“You're half-demon?” Sam questioned in shock.

“Yeah. I know what you're gonna say next, but enough with the niceties and,” she paused, taking her demon knife out of her boot, “let's have some fun.” She smirked and looked over at Tom, silently conversing before splitting up.

Both Sam and Dean took off running, Aline following them.

The brothers found an alcove to take cover in.

“You got a plan?” Sam asked.

“We're gonna wake her up,” Dean replied.

“She said she's half-demon, Dean!”

“I mean her human half! We'll put the demon half to sleep for a while.”

“Then exorcise her?”

Dean shook his head. “We don't know what that's gonna do to her.”

Just then, one of the light bulbs popped.

“Come on, boys! You can do better than this!” she teased, her voice echoing in the otherwise empty tunnel. “I've seen ya take down demons and exorcise 'em without a problem. What's stopping you from pushing my trip to Hell to tonight? You can tell me.”

Neither of them answered.

“Is it because of the fact I saved your asses on a bunch of hunts? Or the fact that I'm gonna do the one thing Sammy can't do without dying in the process? No matter what you do, no matter what choices you make, we'll always end up here, you know. You bring human me back, you'll just be dealing with this me again in the future. Maybe twenty years from now.” She paused. “Time's different down there. Two months up here is, like, twenty years down there. If you two could see souls, you wouldn't even recognize mine after twenty years up here time. I'd probably kill ya without a second thought.”

Dean chose that moment to step out of his hiding place, locking his eyes on those cold dark blue ones as she held the demon blade to his throat. “You wouldn't kill me, sweetheart,” he pointed out. “We both know that. Besides, what I'm looking at right now, it isn't the Aline I know. The girl I know saves people. She's a hunter who takes down monsters like no one's business. What I'm looking at right now is a killer.”

She shook her head, that smirk gone from her face. “You don't know me as well as you think you do. I might _deserve_ death. Even more than you think I do.”

“You don't think I know that I don't know you? I've been waiting for you to just tell me everything about you. I'm gonna let myself pull a chick flick moment here and say that you being half demon doesn't bother me. Hell, you could've killed me and Sammy at any point, but you never did. And, truthfully, I don't think you ever will. It doesn't matter to me that you think you deserve to die. I started feeling for you what I feel for Sam. You're like my sister, Ally, and I need you.”

She lowered the demon blade while her eyes softened, the animalistic quality that was in them slowly fading away. The look was being replaced by shock, panic, and sadness, her human side was slowly breaking through.

It looked like he was getting through to her.

Then Sam stepped out.

Her eyes darkened again before switching to black as she threw the knife at him.

Dean tackled her to the ground and struggled to keep her there. His hands held her wrists to the ground while he straddled her to keep her still. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sam dodge out of the way, and the knife lodged itself into the wall.

Aline was snarling and growling while struggling to break free of Dean's hold.

“Aline. It's over.” There was a note of finality in his voice, but she continued to struggle, almost biting him. That was when he made the conscious decision to place his lips on hers. He barely noticed her struggling slow down until she pressed her lips firmer to his, deepening the kiss.

_Bliss._

_Heaven._

Dean was the one who broke it minutes later in order for the two of them to get any air, gently but not unkindly. His eyes slowly opened, and he saw that her eyes were back to being that shade of blue he knew and loved. A deep red blush was coloring her cheeks as they continued to stare into each other's eyes. He smiled down at her.

“Welcome back, sweetheart.”

Just then, Sam cleared his throat, causing Dean to notice their position and quickly stood up. He helped her up while Sam picked up her demon knife.

Aline held her hand out, expecting to get the knife back, but Sam shook his head firmly and shoved it in his pants pocket. “There anything else we need to know about you?” he asked.

She sighed and ran her fingers over her hair. “I'll tell you everything you want and need to know about me,” she replied.

That was when they all heard a gun shot echoing through the tunnel. Dean suddenly got a bad feeling about what was gonna happen.

She whirled around and yelled out Tom's name, but Dean grabbed her hand, and the three of them ran out of the tunnel and up to the Impala, watching tunnel 5 explode in a fiery blaze.

“NO!” Aline screamed, trying to run back, but Sam grabbed onto her and held her in a firm back hug.

“Aline, no,” he said.

“TOM! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! I gotta save him!”

“No! You go in there and you'll be gone too!”

Dean watched her as she broke down, tears streaming down her face at the realization that her only remaining relative was gone for good. She screamed and punched Sam and pushed herself out of his arms, covering her face with her hands.

Somehow, he knew exactly how to calm her down.

Dean knelt down next to her and pulled her into his own arms, and she didn't resist. He rubbed her head soothingly and softly sang, _“_ _At the end of the day, they don't mean what they say, they don't say what they mean, they don't ever come clean - and the answer...”_

She stiffened slightly before responding with, _“Is it's all a facade!”_

_“Is it's all a facade!”_

Sam knelt down next to them and joined in on the next part.

_“Man is not one, but two, he is evil and good, an' he walks the fine line we'd all cross if we could! It's a nightmare we can never discard so we stay on our guard though we love the facade. What's behind the facade?”_

Sam and Dean let her sing the last line, which she did.

_“Look behind the facade!”_

The three of them stood back up and walked over to the Impala. Sam let Aline sit in the front seat. On the drive back to the highway (the three of them had checked out of their room at the Thunderbird, instead choosing to all bunk with Tom), Aline told the boys about her past, not leaving out a single detail.

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

Two days later, Aline got a text from someone completely unexpected.

_'I need your help, Batgirl. Room 248. Terminus Hotel. Bring your first aid kit.'_

She didn't let her surprise show on her face as she volunteered to go pick up dinner. The three of them had caught wind of a case in Gatlin, South Carolina. A handful of men died due to mysterious circumstances. Hex bags were involved.

Aline's and Sam's friendship suffered because of what happened in Harmony. Her relationship with Dean suffered as well, but it was mending better than hers and Sam's friendship, since those two boys (and Bobby) were now the only family she had left after the explosion at tunnel 5.

She made sure to sneak a flask of holy water into her jeans pocket. A silver knife wasn't needed since she had the silver ring with a Celtic trinity knot on her right ring finger (it was something her mom had given to her before her death, and she used to wear it around her neck when she was a kid).

The Terminus was half-an-hour away from the motel she and the Winchesters were staying at, while the convenience store was thirty-five minutes away. It gave her plenty of time to steel herself for the possibility that she was going to be meeting up with a monster.

Once she got the first aid kit, along with a bottle of whiskey for the pain (as much as she internally cringed at getting the stuff) and her's, Dean's, and Sam's dinner (and, of course, two pies), she drove over to the Terminus, knocking on the door that lead into room 248. She heard a grunt of pain coming from behind the door, and she pulled the holy water out of her pocket, opening it.

Right when she saw 'Tom's' face, she threw some holy water onto his face.

Nothing happened. No steam, nothing.

“I guess I deserve that,” he said, wiping the liquid off his face. He held out his hand. “Where's the silver, then?”

She held out her right hand. “My ring,” she replied.

He willingly touched the ring, and, once again, nothing happened. She smiled widely and hugged her cousin tightly, making him groan in pain.

“I thought you were dead, Supes,” she whispered, her voice cracking slightly.

“Nah. An explosion can't kill me. I'm Superman, remember? As much as I love hugs, can you let go? I'm slightly in pain.”

She quickly let go and glanced over his body before her eyes settled on the makeshift bandage on his left side. She immediately went to work, handing him the whiskey.

“What happened?”

“You first.” He took a long swig of the whiskey.

“Long story short, Dean brought me back, and, right when we heard the gun shot, we got the hell outta there and watched tunnel 5 explode.”

“Axel and I fought until I stabbed him in the side with a pickaxe. Then, Sarah started shooting at me, and I ran away. I came back, and Axel started shooting at me before he hid in a corner. Sarah came out and called my name. I was about to throw the axe at her, but she shot me right there. _Shit, that stings!_ Then, this rescuer came and found me, and I killed him and took his clothes so I could get outta there undetected.”

She was finished in fifteen minutes, and she kissed the top of his head. “I'm glad you're alive, Tommy. Don't you dare scare me like that again, you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah. I hear ya.”

Aline stood up to leave, deciding to leave the first aid kit with Tom. Her hand was resting on the doorknob when Tom spoke up.

“Hey, Lin.”

She turned to look him in the eye. “Yeah?”

“Come outta Hell human, you got me?”

She gave a small smile. “I'll do my best.”

“Call me every day. Just like before.”

“If I can't, I'll be sure to text you.”

“And, when your time runs out...”

She clenched her jaw, but she kept that small smile on her face, letting him know her answer. “Keep your stick on the ice, Tommy.”

Then she left, knowing this would probably be the last time she'd ever see him ever again.

* * *

  **Song Inspiration:**

_**Next time on** _ **Return to Harmony :**

_“Sammy, you can blame yourself for me and Aline gettin' loose.”_

_“You put enough blood in us to make it easy to slip out of the cuffs and walk out of the trap. Bet you're regretting it now, huh?”_

**_See you guys then._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this fic is almost finished. There's just one more chapter left, that being the epilogue that takes place in 10x03, and it's seven pages long. When I first started typing this out on my last computer, the story was going to end right here. Now that we're in season 10 and we've seen demon!Dean, I'm ending it in 10x03. It mostly follows canon, but it diverges once someone comes into the scene. The title comes from "Madness In Me" by Skillet. 
> 
> This whole fic so far (including the cover, disclaimer, and back cover summary) is 75 pages long. With the epilogue, it's going to be 82 pages. Without all the extra stuff, it's 72 pages (just to give you an idea of how many pages I used for the cover, summary, disclaimer, etc). I'm not sure about when the epilogue will be posted because I don't know where to end it. I'll try to figure it out sometime. It would be funny if I finally finished it on Valentine's Day. To me, at least. Like I said, once this is finished, updates for Sun Rise will resume. I should be ashamed of myself on how long it's taking me to write Sun Rise because Okami is my number one favorite single player game.
> 
> Anyway, that's the master plan. Catch you guys sometime soon.


	22. Epilogue: Letting Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six years after Tom's "death," Sam struggles to fight off both two demons wearing familiar faces and an old temptation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final page count for this chapter: 8
> 
> Final page count for this entire fic: 80 (the longest multi-chaptered fic I've written to date)
> 
> Welcome to the finale, folks! It's been a long time coming, and we're finishing off in Soul Survivor. But things are going to be ending differently this time. You'll see what I mean.
> 
> Anyway, there's a POV switch after the cut. I was originally going to do this entire chapter in Sam's POV, but I changed my mind. Also, there won't be a sequel to this. I'm not planning one at all. So, the next time you'll hear from me will be chapter 4 of Sun Rise. I'll put a little preview of it instead of the usual preview of the next RTH chapter since it's all finished.

****

****

**Lebanon, KS**  
 **Men of Letters bunker**  
 **Six years later**  
His finger hovered over the call button. Would he even want to talk to him? He probably blamed him for her death. Both her's and his brother's last moments replayed in his mind.

“ _Sam,” she gasped out._ “ _Hold up. Hold up.”_

_Sam set them both down on a piece of equipment._

“ _We've got to say something to you.”_

“ _What?” he questioned._

_Dean rested his hand on Sam's shoulder, but, as he spoke, he moved it to hold his head. “I'm proud of the three of us,” he stated. “We both are.”_

Sam clenched his fist. She and Dean were now chained in the dungeon in opposite chairs six inches away from each other. How had it come to this? It made him wish he could go back six years. Maybe even seven, when all they had to worry about was the next hunt. Maybe, if they were able to retire from hunting, she and Dean could've gotten together, Sam could've gotten himself a girlfriend, and the four of them could've lived an apple pie life in the same white picket fence neighborhood.

There was still a possibility it could happen. He just had to do this. He _had to._ They would've wanted him to do this. The Dean he knew. The girl he knew. The real them.

“ _Oh, it's the real us, all right. The new real us, the us that see things for what they really are.”_

“ _You notice how we tried to get as far away from you as possible? Away from your whining? Your complaining?”_

“ _We chose the King of Hell over you.”_

“ _You never had a brother or a best friend. Just excuses for not manning up. But guess what? We quit.”_

Sam shook his head, trying to get those words out of his head. He set her phone down and instead picked up her iPod. The last song she had listened to was “Heart By Heart” by Demi Lovato. He remembered when she confessed to him that she thought of Dean every single time she listened to it.

He tapped the next button.

“The Way Back” from Jekyll & Hyde.

It felt longer than six weeks since the three of them sat down in the living room and watched “Jekyll & Hyde” for the millionth time in the last six years. Sam almost smiled at the memory, but then it was ruined by the obsidian flash of their eyes.

Before he could tap the play button, there was a knock at the front door. He set her iPod down. Fortunately, he had a silver knife, a demon blade, and holy water on him. He walked over to the door and opened it slightly.

It was the one person he was thinking about calling minutes ago.

“What are you doing here, Tom?” Sam questioned, relaxing somewhat. Figures he relaxed more seeing Tom than his own brother and best friend.

“I know she's here, Winchester,” Tom stated. “I wanna see her.”

Sam's jaw clenched. He knew for a fact she wouldn't want Tom to see her as what she was now. “She's not here. Neither of them are. I'm still looking for her.”

Tom clearly didn't buy it. “Cut the crap. I saw her and your brother at a strip club two weeks ago. Alive. I wanna know how the hell they're alive when you told me who knows how long ago that Metatron killed them. I even know you found the both of them.” He walked into the bunker, dark green eyes focused right on Sam. “You wouldn't drag them back to some sleazy motel room. So I wondered, where would you actually take them? Then it hit me. You'd take 'em home. And, to her, this place is home. Now, let me see my cousin.”

Sam sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “All right. Just...know that I'm trying everything I can.” He began leading him to the dungeon.

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“...A bunch of crap happened since the explosion.”

“ _We're lovin' the new models. Lean, mean, Dean and Aline.”_

“ _Maybe we were just tired of babysitting you, or always having to yank your lame ass out of the fire since...forever.”_

“I know. She didn't keep anything from me, ya know. She trusts me more than anyone. Except you and Dean, of course.”

“Even Dean taking the mark of Cain? Even her binding her soul to his? Everything?”

“Like I said, Sam, she didn't hold anything back. She never called when she was pissed. I can guess what happened whenever she got majorly angry. I take it you probably guessed too?”

That made him stop in his tracks and turn to face him. “What do you mean?”

“She told me she felt every emotion Dean felt and vice versa. She even said that there were times when she felt she couldn't trust you about different things and the only person she could turn to was Dean. You'd have to be an idiot not to know that they fucked out their stress and anger.”

That stung him more than he decided to let on. Those thoughts had to be because of the mark. It figured everything always led to that. Sam shook it off and resumed walking.

“ _What are you gonna do? You gonna kill us?”_

“ _....No.”_

“ _Why? You don't know what we've done. We might have it coming.”_

“ _Well I don't care...'Cause you are my brother and you are best friend, and I'm here to take you both home.”_

“I know for a fact she wouldn't want you to—” He froze just outside of the dungeon, eyes widening in shock. Tom tensed beside him.

“A dungeon? I thought you were taking me to see her, not throw me in a dungeon so you could call the cops on me.”

The chairs were empty, the cuffs and ropes lying on the seats.

“I wasn't going to throw you in there, Tom. Trust me. You'd be able to get out of those in seconds. Now, run.”

Tom nodded, and they both took off running without any questions from Tom.

Maybe he saw the fear in his eyes. It wouldn't be the first time considering the last time they ran away from something together. Well, he was running away from Tom, but that really didn't matter at that point.

The hunters had become the hunted, the predators the prey.

They hid in an empty room, Sam shutting it behind them. The demon blade was in his hand, and he passed Tom the flask of holy water.

“They're not—”

Sam hushed him with a finger to his lips.

“ _Ahh, you're my brother and you're my best friend and I'm here to take you both home. Now what is this, a Lifetime movie, huh? With your puppy dog eyes.”_

“Sammy,” he heard Dean call, “you can blame yourself for me and Aline gettin' loose.”

“You put enough blood in us to make it easy to slip out of the cuffs and walk out of the trap,” Aline added. “Bet you're regretting it now, huh?”

Both of their voices were gravelly from forty years in Hell (more on Aline's end) and a decade of suffering on Earth. They almost gave Sam chills at how much it contrasted from their voices before all this happened. Even their usual nickname for Sam gave him chills. It sounded like they were mocking him with it.

“What are they talking about?” Tom whispered.

“C'mon Sammy. Don't you wanna hang out with your brother and best friend? Spend a little quality time?”

“Maybe we could have a little fun, raise a little hell. Me and Dean have been talking when you weren't shooting us full of blood. Call it quid pro quo, if you want,” Aline stated, and Sam could hear the grin in her voice. “Except we won't need to use a needle once you get used to the taste again.”

He froze, knowing _exactly_ what she was talking about.

“It might be a bit stronger than what you're used to,” Dean pointed out. “But it packs a stronger punch, that we can guarantee.”

“ _You're the guy who's supposed to put a bullet in Sammy's brain! Did you miss?”_

“ _You have no idea what you walked into here, did you? None.”_

“ _What did you think was gonna happen? Huh? You just stroll up here and say 'My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die', and I'd just roll over?”_

“What do ya say?”

Before answering, Sam motioned for Tom to stay put before going to lock the bunker down, the lights switching to red. He quickly and quietly ran back to the room.

“I'm not gonna do that, Dean!” Sam shouted, surprised at the fact that his voice didn't waver in the slightest.

A shiver ran down his spine at the laughter that followed. It usually made him laugh since it came after a prank or joke. This one was downright frightening to hear. One might call it sadistic.

“That wasn't a question, Sammy,” Aline responded. “You're gonna start it again whether you want to or not. And this, this was smart. Very smart. Locking the place down. Doors won't open. We get it.”

“But here's the thing,” Dean stated, finishing her statement. “Neither of us wanna leave. Not until we find you and do one of two things.”

Sam chose not to answer, but he still heard their footsteps walking down the halls of the bunker. He knew Cas was on his way. They just had to hold out for as long as it took.

“C'mon, Sammy!” he heard Dean say.

“Let's have a drink, talk about it. We're tired of playin'. Let's finish this game!” Aline threw in. “Come out, come out, wherever you are! You too, Tommy!”

Beside him, he felt Tom freeze.

“Yeah, I know you're here, Superman. Dean and I saw you back at the strip club. We were just having fun. Like last time, remember? Wanna help us recreate the magic? I know you've got the gear in your car. I've got mine on. For the most part, anyway.”

“I'm gonna have to say no to that, Ally. This isn't right, even for me. Let Sam fix whatever's wrong you and Dean,” Tom replied.

That was when a hammer was smashed into the door, causing both men to move away from it. A pickaxe joined it, creating two holes big enough for them to see both Dean and Aline. Dean was wearing a red button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a black t-shirt, and a pair of jeans. Aline was wearing her Red Hood outfit, sans the mask. The sleeves were rolled up to her elbows. The whole ensemble made Sam's mind flash back to six years ago. The two were smirking widely.

“Let me tell you something, Tommy-boy,” she stated. “Neither Dean or I wanna be fixed. You're making what we've got sound like a disease of some kind. You guys should catch it sometime. Wait, you've already got it. Not as bad as we do though.”

Sam held up the demon knife. “Don't make me use this on you,” he threatened, but all four of them knew it was an empty threat. “I don't wanna have to kill you.”

“That's too bad for you,” Dean stated, smashing another hole into the door. “See, there's just enough demon left in the both of us that killing you ain't no choice at all.”

Sam's eyes widened. “You really don't want to do that.”

Aline's smirk sent more chills down his spine. “Trust me when I say we both do. It comes with being, ya know,” she replied, both hers' and Dean's eyes flicking to black.

Tom gasped beside him. “I know you don't want to be that. It's your worst nightmare,” he stated.

She shook her head, keeping her eyes black. “Used to be. Now, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. You guys should try being demons. Might lighten you up a bit. That's what it did for us.”

“Let me fix you two,” Sam pleaded. “Please.”

They both shook their head, saying at the same time, “We _like_ the disease.” Their eyes switched back, and they grinned at each other.

“Here are your options, Sam,” Dean said, hitting the door with his hammer again. “Drink our blood willingly or we kill you.”

“The right answer is obvious, ya know,” Aline pointed out. “Do you wanna die knowing we're still demons and we're still gonna kill people?”

“I'm going to fix you two.”

Aline growled, and her lips curled in a snarl, grabbing Sam with the pickaxe by his shirt and pulling him toward her. “How many fucking times do we have to say it until it gets through your obnoxiously thick skull? We don't wanna be fixed.” She put the handle of the pickaxe in her mouth, took the demon knife from his hand, and cut her left forearm.

Sam couldn't stop his eyes from staring hungrily at the blood trickling down her arm, the familiar scent hitting him like a freight train. He barely heard Tom say his name over his pounding heart. A rough hand forced him to look at his brother, Dean's lips curling in a grin at the look on his face.

“Even after all this time, you still remember the smell, don'tcha, Sammy?” he cooed. His tone reminded Sam of Ruby, and, unlike before, the way he said his nickname sounded just like it did when they both were human.

“Mine was always different, though,” Aline pointed out, putting the handle back in her hand. “Half-human blood, half-demon blood. I remember how you practically drooled at the sight of it each time I got cut deep enough to bleed. I used to be scared of that hungry look, but now, I can see why Ruby got a thrill from it.”

“ _Imagine you spend your whole life hunting down the guy that knifed your father. When you finally find him, he whips you like a dog. How do you think that feels? That kid is going to spend his whole life knowing that he had his shot and that he couldn't beat me. That ain't mercy. That's the worst thing I could have done to him.”_

“We've got a hell of a lot more runnin' through us than just demon juice. The detoxing process would be a hundred times worse probably. Hell, _we_ don't even know. Far as we know, no one's ever gotten addicted to blood from a Knight of Hell.”

Sam did everything he could to fight off wanting to drink Aline's blood. He held his breath, closed his eyes, looked in his brother's dark eyes pleading for him to _just not do this,_ did the same with Aline, tried not to remember how demon blood tasted _(It tastes disgusting. You never wanna drink it again.)_ , _everything_.

But nothing worked.

They just forced his mouth and eyes open when he held his breath and closed his eyes, flashed their black eyes at him whenever he looked into their eyes, and they took turns waving the demon knife under his nose.

He was sure Cas would get there in time to help him get both his brother and best friend back into the dungeon to keep going with the cure. Then they could put all this behind them once they were cured. Sam could forgive the both of them and tell them to stop apologizing whenever they did it too much. Hell, they could even...

Those thoughts were shot down the moment Aline handed the demon knife to Dean and he cut his hand, drawing angel warding sigils in his own blood on everything he could reach and smirking at his younger brother when he was finished.

“We're not stupid, Sammy,” he said. “We knew you'd call Cas once you knew for a fact we were both alive and demons. Now that he's got some other angel's grace in him, this'll work just fine in keeping him out of our business.”

“I just want you both back,” Sam stuttered out. “I want my brother and my best friend back.”

Aline chuckled. “Are you sure you want your guilt-ridden, tortured, we've-got-the-whole-world-resting-on-our-shoulders brother and best friend back? Really sure? Because we sure as hell don't want them back.” She switched to holding Sam's shirt with one hand and held the pickaxe out to Tom. “We're having too much fun. You can join us if you want. All you gotta do is stop trying to fix us when we clearly don't want it. Isn't that what you were bitching about after we got Gadreel outta you?”

Sam was about to deny it, but Dean interrupted him.

“Don't even try to deny it. Ally and I both saw you wanted to die, but neither of us could live without you for some reason,” he replied.

“Because you don't give up on family. So, I say no,” Sam stated. “I'm fixing you two, end of story.”

He watched as Tom took the pickaxe out of Aline's hand, his heart stopping in his chest.

“I suggest you do it, Winchester,” Tom threw in, staring right at him.

Sam's eyes widened as he stared at him. “I-I thought...”

Tom grinned. “What? You thought I really didn't know what those two are? Truth is, I confronted 'em a couple weeks ago, and they convinced me to tag along with them.”

“So you planned this whole thing out.”

“In case you caught us,” Dean pointed out. “Now, are you doing this willingly, or are we gonna have to use force?”

“My brother wouldn't do this. Neither would my best friend.”

Aline scoffed. “You never had a brother. Dean was essentially your dad throughout your whole childhood, and what'd you do? You spat in his face almost every chance you got. He _gave you_ a childhood. The two of us? Never. His childhood stopped right when your mom died and had to start watching your ass. Mine stopped when I came outta Hell,” she replied. “You never even had a best friend in me.”

“Why aren't you killing me, then?”

Neither of the demons answered, instead stabbing a syringe into Sam's arm. Once the plunger was pushed down and that familiar powerful feeling started up, he realized what exactly it was.

_Demon blood._

He shut his eyes tight and tried to fight off the rebuilding want for the stuff.

*~*~*~*SPN/MBV*~*~*~*

Dean pulled the syringe out of Sam's arm, and the three of them watched intently as his eyes shut tight and his jaw clenched in resistance of the temptation.

Aline pulled Sam closer to her and whispered, “Once it's in, you can't get it out unless you detox. All four of us know that. And we ain't lettin' you get detoxed ever again, Sammy.”

She felt his body struggle underneath her fingers.

“Easy tiger,” Dean added with a teasing grin. “We aren't gonna let go of ya. Ever. We're stickin' together. Don't you worry. We got ya, we got ya.”

Sam's body didn't stop shaking, but Aline used the demon knife to leave a second cut on her left forearm (the last one healed in seconds), and she put it right under his nose. He sniffed it, making her smirk.

“I smell good, don't I? I taste even better. Have a taste,” she cooed, and he dove right in, sucking the demon juice right out of her arm. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head, and she practically fell into Dean's arms.

The feeling (and sight) of Sam sucking her blood was a huge turn-on and made her feel euphoric.

She looked over at Dean and roughly kissed him, breaking it a few minutes later after Sam had had his fill.

His hazel eyes were dark, and his teeth and lips were covered in her blood. Dean grinned at the look of pure want and hunger in Sam's eyes.

“There's plenty more where that came from, Sammy. Don't you worry,” he said. “Open the door because we got work to do.”

Sam's shoulders relaxed at the promise of more later while Dean, Aline, and Tom looked at each other with wicked smirks. He quickly opened the door, and Dean and Aline walked in.

_Time for part two._

Dean looked right into Sam's eyes. “Now, Sam. Tell us where Crowley is.”

* * *

 

_**Sun Rise** _ _Chapter 4 preview (Celesti_ _al What-Now?)_

__

**_See you guys, then! (and there.)_ **

**_Also, shameless self-promo for my RP blog (I RP as Aline):_ **

__

**[ _Check it out here!_ ](http://marked-by-a-winchester.tumblr.com/) _Just read and follow my rules, and we'll get along fine. Also, if you wanna start something, send me the secret word I included in da rules. I've even made my "Sun Rise" universe one of her verses.  
_ **

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the end of Return to Harmony.
> 
> Honestly, I'm happy with how this turned out. 22 chapters and 80 pages. I'm in awe right now.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who left kudos. Hope you'll stick with me for "Sun Rise," too! I don't know exactly how many chapters it'll be, considering I'm in the River of Heavens right now and how much there is to write. Hell, even how many characters I have to choose Supernatural characters for! Suggestions are always welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or My Bloody Valentine, except for physical copies of Seasons 1-3, the anime series, and My Bloody Valentine. I only own the idea and Aline. Songs mentioned and lyrics used aren't mine. They belong to their respective owners.
> 
> I know this idea has already been done. I've seen a fic where Sam replaced Sarah (the one I'm talking about is called HeartShaped Box by TeamFreeWillAngel, and it's on fanfiction.net), Dean and Sam save Tom (Tom was possessed by Harry's ghost in that particular fic) and he becomes a hunter (my personal favorite SPN/MBV fic that takes place before the end of Season 5 and the events of the movie), and Cas and Tom being paired together. This is one I've had on the brain for a while, and I had 4 or 5 chapters of it all typed on my last computer. Where I left off on there, Tom and Aline hadn't run into Sarah yet.
> 
> Fun fact about the original version of this fic: The song that calmed Aline down after a nightmare was "Savages" from Pocahontas.
> 
> My aim for Tom's and Aline's relationship is for it to be a little like Dean's and Sam's. It took me a little while to come up with insults like "Jerk" and "Bitch."
> 
> The deleted scenes from the movie will be included.


End file.
